Rescue and Retreat
by Tala White 14
Summary: When a simple recon mission goes horribly wrong for the Animorphs, Rachel and Tobias are lost in the woods. Rachel is in worse shape than the other Animorphs knew and faints from sheer exhaustion. Tobias, desperately seeking help, stumbles into a strange camp - Camp Half-Blood.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: This fic takes place right after ****_The Last Olympian_****. I might consider a beta, so send me a PM if you're interested. Thank you!**

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BOOM!

A loud ringing was in my ears.

What? I thought as I woke groggily from my semi-conscious state. My vision was blurry and my body felt like lead. That is, if lead felt as if it had just been run over by a train. I tried to move my wings, but instead found arms. Wings? Arms?

{Tobias! Demorph!} A voice, a sweet, familiar voice, sounded inside my mind. Demorph? Okay, why not. The voice sounded quite demanding. I should probably do as she says. Wait- she?

Rachel!

"R… Rachel?" I gasped. My throat was dry and damaged from smoke inhalation. I couldn't see her anywhere as I desperately tried to confirm her existence. The simple recon mission had gone horribly wrong. It had all been a trap.

{Yeah, Tobias, I'm here. You've gotta-} She switched from thought speech to vocal speech mid-sentence. "demorph."

A hand suddenly gripped my arm and my heart thumped loudly in relief. She was here! She was alive! Rachel was with me! My mind screamed.

I looked slightly to the left and saw that she was almost entirely demorphed. She looked exhausted and her eyes were wild with panic. I wanted to hug her so badly, but I couldn't move anything except my head and my one arm.

"Tobias, you can still demorph, right?" The panic was now explained. She was scared that I was trapped as a nothlit again – a human nothlit this time. Instead of replying, I closed my eyes and concentrated on my body.

I was a red-tailed hawk. I _am _a red-tailed hawk.

With a stab of joy lacing through my body, I hear the crunch and slurp of my body shrinking and changing to my bird-form. I opened my eyes and found Rachel staring anxiously at my legs, or where my legs had been.

Oh... so that's why I couldn't move them! No wonder my brain feeled like it was enveloped in a smothering blanket.

Just above my knees my legs stopped. A Hork-Bajir arm separated my upper legs from my lower and I had to swallow down the bile that threatened to escape. At least the damage could be easily fixed thanks to the morphing technology, but I rather closed my eyes for fear of passing out.

After a few minutes, I was whole again. Rachel gingerly picked me up and pushed me off into the sky, considered of how difficult it is to gain altitude from the ground. Especially since I feel as if I could sleep for a year and a bit. I flew upwards and made a circle with a three meter radius.

The blast had taken out most of the trees in this part of the forest and as far as I could see (which is pretty far) there were no imminent threats to me and Rachel. I couldn't spot any of the other Animorphs either. I could only hope that they had gotten to safety in time.

I flew back down to where Rachel was sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest. She was shivering in her tightfitting gymnastic outfit. She was covered in soot and blood and looked significantly similar to a corpse, but to me she could never be more beautiful.

She looked up as she heard me flutter down and perch on her shoulder. I knew my talons must hurt her soft skin through the thin material, but she hasn't ever indicated that she minded. Instead of wincing or complaining, like any normal teenage girl with her type of looks would, she stood up on shaky legs and started walking in a general direction.

{I can't see anything near here. The other's must have escaped. We should travel until we find decent shelter and hiding, rest and continue at dawn.} I told her.

Rachel nodded and continued walking. Dark, almost black, crescent-shaped shadows decorated the area beneath her eyes. Morphing might be able to heal us from the brink of death but it couldn't replace energy lost during hours of relentless battles.

The others might believe she only loves battle because of the adrenaline and the exhilarating high it causes, and I won't deny that it wasn't partly true, but she fought even harder to protect her best friends. To keep her loved ones safe, she has sacrificed the innocence of her soul and become a murderer. Maybe that's why we got along so well.

Except for the obvious love we felt for each other, we understood the game of survival and knew that the other wouldn't judge you because of the things you have had to do to live. Even though I believed myself to be more of a pacifist, I have had to become a predator when I was stuck in the body of a hawk.

Suddenly, Rachel stumbles slightly on the terrain littered with rubble and debris, jostling me from my thoughts. This caused me to involuntarily clench my talons harder into her flesh, drawing blood. She gave no indication that she had even felt it. She was beyond tired. I knew she had been struggling with sleeping the past few months, but she hid it from the others as not to worry them.

She stumbles again and leans against a blackened stub that must have been a tree. "Tobias," she whispers weakly. "I don't think I can go any further. I… think I… need to… sleep." Her eyelids were fluttering close and she was fading fast.

I only had enough time to push off before she slid gracefully to the ground. The need for sleep overpowering even her unyielding will.

I forced myself not to panic and darted upwards. The night was getting darker by the minute and my hawk eyes, however good they were during the day, was now useless. I circled around Rachel's limp body, found no threats and flew even higher. I had to find the others or at least a safer place for her to rest.

Choosing the direction we were currently heading in, I flew as fast as my wings could carry me in the still, windless air. I honestly couldn't tell you how long I flew. It felt like hours in my desperate need to find help, but it was more like seconds before I spotted what seemed to be a campsite. I could see a huge bonfire and I could faintly hear the sound of children singing.

I made an immediate U-turn and sped back towards Rachel. The aliens would have sent reinforcements immediately after the blast and I didn't know how long it would take them to get here. Either way, I couldn't let anyone stumble upon her helpless body in the middle of nowhere.

She was still out as light but safe, when I arrived at the spot where she had passed out. I took a precious few seconds to admire her. It was times like these that I struggled to believe that such a beautiful person could be capable of the horrors I have seen Rachel commit.

{Rachel?} I prompted, but she didn't respond. {Rachel? Love, you need to wake up. There's a camp a little distance from here. If we get there, we'll be safe for a little while.} Her eyes flickered slightly and a small frown almost formed, but when sleep had finally seized Rachel's mind, it clearly wasn't going to let her go any time soon.

With a resigned sigh, I descended and landed a few metres from her. I started morphing human. It took a few minutes and I winced at the state of my clothes.

My bike shorts were in tatters and my shirt (what was left of it) looked like it had been attacked by a lava monster. The scary thing was that the lava monster was an entirely plausible scenario in my messed-up life.

I jog towards Rachel and gently picked her up. She moaned slightly and curled herself towards my body. The action made me smile. She was the best thing in my life.

For the first time I was grateful that Rachel forced me to morph human to exercise. If it weren't for her, I'd still be the wimpy, scrawny looking Tobias from the before the start of this chaos and I wouldn't have been able to pick up, never mind carry, the tall, muscular gymnast. She was still heavy, though, but the all too visible bones in her body, terrified me. I knew she hadn't been sleeping well, but she had always been a girl with a healthy appetite. This war has damaged her in ways that not even I had known.

My sense of direction was… it wasn't even worthy of being called a sense, so I simply staggered on in the direction from which I came.

After a few minutes, I came to a steep hill. I was already breathing heavily and the prospects of climbing that thing made my heart clench with hopelessness. I looked at Rachel's peaceful face and gathered my strength. I wasn't going to give up, not before she was resting safely inside a cabin or tent. I took a deep breath and placed a foot on front of the other. My knees and legs were screaming, my muscles aching. I gasped for breath, but kept going. The only light left in my bleak existence dependant on me. Rachel never gave up on me and this was the least I could do to repay the favour.

When I reached the top of the hill I leaned against a large pine tree. A flag or animal hide hung from one of its branches. I heard a rustle in the leaves above and when I looked, I thought I saw a golden streamer strung between the twigs. I blinked and it was gone, so I chalked it up to equal amounts oxygen deprivation and exhaustion.

The way down was easier as much as it was more difficult. I constantly had to stop myself from tumbling down the hill. The extra large boulders didn't help at all.

When I finally reached the bottom, I walked until I could hear the faint laughter of happy campers. I didn't want to risk being caught in my human body, so I tenderly lowered Rachel's body to the ground near what appeared to be some kind of jungle gym. I morphed to red-tailed hawk and then to my utter disgust, morphed into an owl. A Great Horned Owl, to be exact.

Please don't tell Marco. I acquired the owl a few weeks ago, because no matter how much I don't like them, they had amazing night vision. And man, was the hearing great! I lifted off of the ground, soundlessly gliding towards the humans.

My plan was to get the people's attention, irritate them until they follow me and then lead them towards Rachel. Okay, I'll admit, as far as plans go this lacked the usual brilliance and well, planning involved in an actual plan, but what the heck, here I go!

I swooped down towards the fire and let loose with a very stereotypical couple of ho-hoo's. Immediately the entire camp fell silent and kneeled with their heads bowed. The fire, which had been huge brilliant orange tongues of flame a split-second ago, shrunk to a flame that could rival a candle in stature.

To say the least, I was scared out of my wits. Did I stumble onto some kind of cult thing?

I circled around their heads once more and realised that the kids looked startling similar. Not just that because of the fact that all the kids with certain features sat together, but that they were all eerily beautiful.

When I swung past the blond-hair-grey-eyes section on my way to get Rachel and run as fast as the African Elephant could out of here, a tall girl of about sixteen, stood up directly in my way. I choked out a startled hoo! And spread my wings wide to halt my progress. Owls weren't very good with braking, nor hovering, but I managed.

I think the reason why I didn't fly away immediately, was because she reminded me of Rachel. They both had blonde hair, but Rachel had blue eyes and this girl's eyes were a stormy grey. That wasn't _it_ though. They both had sharp, intelligent eyes, (in complete contradiction with their blonde hair). They also had the same confident I-am-going-to-kick-your-ass look in their eyes. This girl was a warrior.

She cocked her head to the side and stared at me. Then, she bowed her head slightly and asked the last thing on this planet that I would have expected.

Not even the few years spending time with Ax and all of his weirdness, helped me to prepare or build up a buffer for this kind of crazy.

With a quizzical frown the girl looked up and asked, "Mom?"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Elements1999 who was my very first reviewer! Also, thanks to edboy4926 for your review and blazesoccergirl713 and Black Shadow Tigress who followed. Next Chapter? I try my hand at an action scene!**

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My name is Tobias.

If you haven't realized it yet, I'm going crazy. Being a bird for the past year and bit has clearly messed with my brain. Then again, I believe I _am_ a bird and that aliens _are_ invading earth, so insanity is probably not far off.

Unfortunately, I know I am not crazy.

Yes, aliens are definitely invading earth. The Yeerks are slugs that squirm into your brain and take over your mind. You are no longer in control of your body, your actions, anything. It's just you and your thoughts having to watch how your body betrays the human race. We call the hosts of the Yeerks, Controllers.

Anybody can be a Controller. Anybody can become a Controller. Even you are in danger.

The only things standing between you and having a grey slug shoved into your head, are six teenagers. Jake, Marco, Cassie, Ax, Rachel and I, have been dancing with death for the past two years so that the earth could have a fighting chance. We try and keep it a secret to avoid an all-out war, because we would lose, badly.

Even if the governments of the world came together we wouldn't stand a chance. They have weapons that make nuclear bombs look like water pistols, not to mention the fact that the Yeerks have probably infiltrated the government already. The president could be a Controller for all we knew. If only the Andalite-fleet could get here, we might be able to win this war.

Considering my life, I should probably not be that freaked out by my current situation, but the girl's words froze my mind. Cassie was probably nature's number one fan and she does talk to the animals more than to actual people, but nothing she ever did came even close to this kind of crazy.

For a split-second, from sheer shock at the bizarreness of the situation, I forgot to flap my wings. I took a dip and fluttered up.

"Mom? What is going on?" The girl called out. She sounded frustrated and slightly angry, but she seemed to be restraining herself from strangling me. Whatever the reason for her restraint; I was grateful for it.

One of the other blond boys, next to her, stood up and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Annabeth, maybe the owl is merely a messenger. Perhaps we need to follow it. The gods can't interfere directly, remember?"

The girl, Annabeth, paused and I could almost see the gears turning inside her head. "Okay, Malcolm. You're probably right."

She looks up at me and this time her eyes were dark grey with impatience. She was clearly extremely annoyed. "Oh, great Wise Owl of Lady Athena. Where you guide us, we will follow." She rattled it off like some people say 'How are you?' or 'Thank you', as if she was simply trying to get the formalities out of the way. She stared at me expectantly.

"Or maybe it's a cleverly disguised spy!" Suddenly, a buff girl with small, fierce brown eyes and messy hair, reared up and shouted. Immediately following her comment by pulling a spear crackling with electricity from out of thin air.

As soon as she drew her weapon, all of the blond kids drew theirs. Knives and swords. Bows and arrows. It looked like some kind of medieval war. Like a domino-effect the camp revealed weapons that could not possibly be safe. I even saw kids, who looked to be no more than eight years old, brandishing daggers with deadly skill. The swords and arrows looked way too sharp to be mere props, and they glowed with unearthly light. If my owl-eyes weren't permanently fixed, they would be widening even more. What the hell was going on?

"Clarisse, do you really think that Kronos or one of his followers would have the audacity to enter Camp after we completely destroyed them? And in the form of the Wisdom goddess's sacred animal, no less." Annabeth yelled over the sounds of children screaming insults at each other.

It was like the freakin' Hunger Games!

That must be it. These people were obsessed with books and re-enacting them! What was it called again? I think Marco called it cosplay…. Living in the forest with only Ax as company has seriously made me fall behind in generational lingo.

It doesn't really matter, though. I was clearly not going to find any sane help here. I flew around the bonfire, which was now a sickly purple inferno, towards where I had left Rachel. I had to get her out of here before the loonies attacked.

"Follow the owl!" I heard somebody shout behind me over the raucous noise.

All of a sudden, a horn sounded in the distance and the campers froze. It was exactly the distraction I needed. As fast as I could, I sped high into the air and then dove towards the spot where I could see the jungle gym… spewing lava?! This night keeps on getting worse.

My heart skipped a beat as I stared at the bare soil. Where I had left Rachel was now just dirt. My sharp vision quickly identified a few pairs of different shoe-prints and I noticed that a horse must have recently walked by, but no sign of Rachel.

With dawning horror I realized that the crazy campers must have found her and carried her somewhere.

I swiftly landed on the roof of the nearest house and changed back into a hawk. It was probably the fastest I had ever demorphed. For a second I was sad to see the night vision go.

I jumped slightly, a ruffle of feathers, as a voice bellowed from inside the house. "Bring me Annabeth and Will! We have an injured new camper!" I swear I heard the clip-clop of hooves inside the house.

First the whole ordeal with the Yeerks spreading false information about a new bio-weapon to the Chee, which ends up to be trap and now these crazy campers who-

"_Di Immortales_!" sounded from the house.

Umh, okay… . First the whole ordeal with the Yeerks spreading false information about a new bio-weapon to the Chee, which ends up to be trap and now these crazy campers who thought they were living in some made-up world and, apparently, _spoke Greek_, kidnap Rachel.

I morphed cockroach, hating the sound of my feathers being slurped away, and the feeling of the exoskeleton creeping over my skin made my stomach turn. I hate insect morphs, especially because of the useless sight. Nothing can be said against the cockroaches durability, though. It might not be something you want to hear, but those buggers are extremely difficult to kill. Lucky for me, since I decided to take the faster route into the house by falling through a crack. I landed inside a dusty attic and quickly scurried down the stairs. The attic gave me the creeps and even the cockroach's mind seemed to just want to get the hell out of there. I quickly demorphed as soon as my sensitive feelers picked up the vibrations of somebody speaking. It was the last time I would be able to do that. I was beyond tired.

The room I was in was large and dimly lit by a few candles. Shadows danced across the walls and my eyes could only make out the general shape of things. A table, a Ping-Pong table, I think, stood at the one end of the room and strange artefacts were littered all over the place. Rachel lay on a makeshift bed in the middle of the room, whilst Annabeth and a boy with azure eyes and hair that looked like spun gold, stood next to the bed.

The guy, which I presumed to be Will, was humming and chanting something as his hands hovered over her body. He shook his head, frowned and then started lifting up her clothes.

Anger bubbled up inside of me and I almost gave away my position with a shriek. Just before I could swoop down and claw his eyes out, he spoke, "She doesn't seem to be injured… at all. She isn't even bruised. The only injuries I could find are these pin-pricks on her left shoulder and that took no effort to heal."

Annabeth leaned forward and stared at the space where my talons had made their marks. "Looks like a bird's talons. A predatory bird." She stands up and massages her neck. "So, if she isn't injured, whose blood is in her hair, on her clothes and under her nails? Why is she passed out?"

Will sighed and went to a cupboard. He came back with a bowl filled with water, a white towel and a canteen. "I don't know. She doesn't have a concussion, but she shows signs of neglect and malnutrition. She probably passed out from sheer exhaustion. She must have been really desperate to reach camp."

He trickled some of the amber liquid from the canteen into her mouth and massaged her throat to help with swallowing. Before my eyes the shadows under her eyes visibly lightened and some colour returned to her cheeks. Will dipped the cloth into the water and started cleaning off the blood which was caked in her hair and starting to dry on her skin. He must be a certified first aider or something. He definitely knew what he was doing.

"Maybe she's like Percy, and healed herself. Or she's one of your sisters and healed herself. Or her satyr gave her some ambrosia." Annabeth shot out suggestions like a machinegun.

She frowned, shrugged and turned towards the back of the room. "Chiron, you should contact the Cloven Elders to see if there are any reports of missing satyrs. If she had been lead here by her satyr, he must have died whilst protecting her or else he would surely have arrived with her at camp. That, or one of her parents must have sent her. The gods have been sending so many stragglers since Percy made his deal."

Chiron? Who's Chiron? As if answering my unspoken question, a voice came from the shadows. "Yes, dear, I will do so immediately." The voice sounded like wisdom sandwiched between serenity. If I had had a grandfather (or even knew who he was), I would have imagined his voice to be like that. The man stepped forward with a clip-clop.

I promise I'm not making this up, but the guy had the lower body of a horse. His lower body was that of a pure-white horse and his upper half was that of a man who looked to be in his mid to late thirties. He had an unruly beard and his warm eyes seemed to radiate genuine concern for Rachel's wellbeing.

Chiron? As if a big light went on inside my mind, the pieces fell together. Chiron was a centaur who trained heroes in Greek Mythology, wasn't he? Athena, Kronos, the Greek… everything made sense. Either this was actually an institute for people with delusions about being a part of Greek Mythology or I was having the nuttiest hallucination ever. Did I eat a poisoned rat?

"I will notify Grover. Should we call a meeting with the camp counsellors?" 'Chiron' asked. He looked at Annabeth, who shook her head.

"No, we can call a council after she wakes up and tells us what happened. We shouldn't disturb them now. They will all be cranky, especially Clarisse after what happened at the pavilion." She shook her head slightly. "I honestly don't know what happened there. It was really weird."

Will shrugged and wrung the water out of the little towel. It dripped a mixture of blood and water into the small bowl. I wondered how many different species' blood are currently in the bowl? Human, Hork-Bajir, Taxxon, Andalite, tiger, bear, wolf, gorilla, hawk… all except the blood of the instigators of this war.

"It could be a sign from Athena that she's one of your siblings. But she strikes me as more of a Aphrodite kid, though." He commented.

Annabeth nodded, "The thought did cross my mind…." And trailed off, as if in deep thought.

"Of course it did!" Will snorted. "I have done everything I can for the girl. Her body is healed and she'll probably wake up as soon as her mind catches up on sleep. If you don't need me, I think I'm going to go crash. Archery has been gruelling today. Kayla has been struggling to teach the new recruits the hymns for healing, so I volunteered to take over her archery lessons for the day. Torture!" He groans and Annabeth smiles slightly. Most of the conversation sounded completely ordinary and I even found myself liking this Will character. He had a magnetic personality that reminded me a lot of Jake

I found myself doubting everything I know. If there was such a thing as aliens, why couldn't the Greek Myths be alive? Where there is smoke, there must be fire after all.

Will left the house and immediately Annabeth's face changed from her stoic mask of professionalism into a picture of unease.

"Where did you come from? What's your story?" She whispered and stared at Rachel with calculating eyes. She circled the bed, took a blanket out of a cupboard and spread it over Rachel. It looked almost motherly, the way Annabeth tucked the blanket around her figure.

"It doesn't matter, you know. Welcome to a new start. We're all family here and you will call Camp Half-Blood home in no time." She smiles wistfully and brushes a hair from her face. "Athena has a plan for you… I just know it." With those words, she walks out as if she owned the world. I wonder if she could be royalty.

For a moment that seemed to stretch into eternity, I simply stared at Rachel's sleeping form. Doubts and worries were a maelstrom of thoughts inside my mind. I felt as if I should be doing more, but I had no choice but to stay here until Rachel woke up.

{Night, Rache.} Then, I tucked my head beneath my wings and drifted off into sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: A huge thank you to Elements1999 for the encouragement! ****Please, critique is welcome.**

**Song I was listening to while typing: ****_It's On Again_**** by Alicia Keys. My obsession of the week. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, nor do I make any profit from any of these fictional works. Everything, except the plot, belongs to their respective owners.**

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My name is Jake

_Approximately four hours ago_

The Animorphs were all present at our usual meeting place – Cassie's barn. As secret bases go, it's pretty inconspicuous and quite genius. Although you would probably not expect the saviours of the world to be having their battle plans drawn up in a barn with sick animals and… well, poop.

Rachel was lazily lounging on a bale of hay, Tobias was in the rafters, Marco was pacing and Cassie was trying to feed a duck with some serious anger issues. Ax… well let's just say Rachel brought him some sour jellybeans and he was experiencing euphoria… or at least that's how he put it.

"If the Andalites knew about these jelly-ie-y be-unz, they would… uld have... huff, been here light-years ago." He commented and pulled some of the strangest faces I have ever seen.

Marco stopped his pacing and shot Ax an incredulous look. "So, your saying that the Andalites would _rush_ here, just for some stupid jellybeans but not to save billions of lives? Unbelievable!"

Rachel rolled her eyes at Marco who was being his melodramatic self. "If Marco is done, I would please like to get this over with. I have gymnastic practice in half an hour."

"No, Rachel, I am not done. We need to discuss Ax's selfish race and it's only 4pm- Oh, my episode of Arrow has finally downloaded! Yeah, Jake, get a move on. Some of us actually have lives." Marco changed his tune within a span of seconds. He looked at me all serious as if he wasn't the one who had been twenty minutes late.

"Okay-" I started.

"Wait, you actually watch _that_ show? Jordan is obsessed with it and makes me watch every single episode!" Rachel asked, her face a picture of disgust.

Marco was immediately on the defence. One thing I've learnt from being his best friend since kindergarten, was to never insult his superheroes. Be it TNMT or the Avengers. "What do you mean? Of course I watch _that_ show. I love watching _good_ stuff. It's so cool! There's action, humour and the girls are hot, especially Sarah! What more could you want? By the way, I didn't know your sister had such great taste?" He sounded like a kid at an ice-cream truck.

Unfortunately, now Rachel was fuming. "Oh," she started in a tone that made me want to run and hide.

It's the exact tone she used when Jarret tried to asked her to his prom just because of her 'rock'n bod'. He ended with a broken nose, so my fears are not unfounded. "Let me see if I get it: You like the series because of a girl who shows way too much cleavage and wears a blonde wig _over_ her _blonde_ hair as her alter ego? Hmm, what's not to like?" If lightning could shoot from her eyes, we would all be burnt to crisps by now.

"Exactly!" My idiot of a best friend replied enthusiastically.

"Ugh! Can I get a cheer for the enforcement of stupid stereotypes? You know, Marco, I want to rip-" Rachel exclaimed, jumped up and started stalking towards Marco. Luckily, the bird saved the day. Uh, not _the _bird, I mean _the_ bird as in Tobias.

{But Rachel, you can't deny the fact that she kicks some serious ass.} Tobias's voice sounded in our heads and I wanted to sigh in relief. Tobias defuses a bomb and saves the day.

"She does, doesn't she?" Rachel smiles dreamily up at the rafters and sits down again, this time next to Cassie on a barrel filled with pellets.

I cleared my throat to get everybody's attention. Before World War lll starts, let's get on with the meeting. "According to the Chee, the Yeerks have made a Bio-weapon that will specifically attack Andalite DNA cells."

Gasps and looks of horror appeared in the room. Ax even forgot about his jellybeans.

"Do you know when they will launch it? Maybe Ax can simply morph into another animal to avoid the chemicals or whatever." Cassie suggested. The lamb, to which she was giving milk, squirmed in her arms as her muscles involuntarily clenched tighter.

I smiled sadly. "I know when it will launch, but the Chee say that it's a chemical that will be sent up into the atmosphere. It's a permanent chemical that will mix with the clouds, rain down on earth and pollute the ground, air and water."

"Maybe Ax can go live in the desert or something?" Marco _un_helpfully suggested.

"That won't work. The thing launches in two hours." I informed them.

Rachel sighs and a wide grin starts to spread on her face. "Well, I'm in. Between gymnastics and saving the world, saving the world wins every time!"

"Dammit! I wanted to watch that episode! It's the finale." Marco looked crestfallen. "Can't we bury him in a bunker or something? One of those nuclear bomb sheds?"

{That could work, maybe. But only as a temporary fix. I'm with Rachel on this one. We need to get rid of that thing as soon as possible.} Tobias cast his vote.

The lamb made a forlorn sound as Cassie placed him on his wobbly legs on the ground. "I agree. Firstly, Jake said the machine attacks Andalite _DNA_-cells, that means Tobias would be in danger as well. He has Andalite DNA. Visser Three must have a vaccine or something." She gestures wildly with her hands whilst talking.

{And secondly?} Ax inquired.

Cassie's eyes hardened slightly, but we all noticed the shift in our softest team member. "Besides the fact that Tobias and Ax would die, if that weapon is not destroyed and the chemicals are released into the air, there is no way that the Andalite-fleet will ever come." She looks pointedly at Marco, who already had his mouth half-open with some or other snarky retort. "Yes, not even for all the jellybeans in the world."

Marco sighed and consents to the mission with his usually grace and style. "Fiiiine theeen. Whatever. Not like I care."

{Prince Jake, I have no issue with dying for our cause but I would greatly appreciate any effort towards the destruction of this weapon.}

I guess it's unanimous then. "The launch takes place on Long Island near the Orient Beach State Park. We have an hour and forty minutes to find it and destroy it."

"Yes! Let's go." Rachel exclaimed as feathers already started appearing on her arms. Cassie smiled, her arms already four feet wings and Marco simply groaned as his lips bulged out into a beak.

We had to wait an extra few minutes, because Ax had to demorph from a human and remorph from an Andalite to an osprey.

"We're off to Neverland!" Marco shouted with fake cheer as we all shot through the air.

* * *

_Approximately two hours ago_

We neared our destination just in time as the last few minutes ticked off towards us being stuck as birds forever. We landed behind a huge building and became human again, or in Ax's case, became a blue alien again.

The sun was sinking rapidly and the first few stars appeared, which meant Tobias was cranky.

{I can't see a thing!} He growled in frustration as he landed in a tree overhead.

"Okay, guys. Rachel, Tobias and Marco go in through the front door and cause some chaos. Draw as many of the enemy as you can." Rachel grinned. This was her stage. "Ax and Cassie , you're with me. We find the machine and defuse it and destroy it." They nodded in confirmation. "We have thirty minutes before launch, so get going."

Marco and Rachel immediately took off in a synchronised jog, whilst Tobias provided aerial support. They made the best team, even though Marco and Rachel got on each other's nerves. At least Tobias was always there to play the mediator.

The night was quiet. Or maybe it was just the buzz of worry and anticipation that drowned out all and any noise. My palms were sweaty and for some reason, I had this feeling that something was going to go wrong. Maybe the lack of planning or the looming deadline-

Rawr!

A grizzly bear's bellow broke through the silence and echoed through the night. Gunfire started and the Tseew! Tseew! of Dracon Beams followed soon after. At least we know we have the correct place.

"Morph, now." I whispered to Cassie and felt my skin itch and prickle as orange and black fur sprouted over it. I fell forward on paws and my ears rounded and shifted. Bones broke and organs shifted and it sounded as gross as it looked. Except when Cassie did it. She currently looked like a Egyptian goddess with the head of a wolf and body of a human.

{Go! Go! Go!}

{Attention's on us!}

{Move, slowpokes! Hee-haw!}

My big tiger head nodded at my team and headed for the building. Our footsteps were light as feathers and we barely made a sound as we moved stealthily through the darkness. We could be the best spies ever.

Ax opened the door with a slash of his tailblade and we entered a deserted room. Dusty boxes were stacked everywhere.

{Prince Jake, I believe the Yeerks would store the device at the centre of this building. We should continue on.} Ax said. I agreed we weren't going to find anything here, but… something felt hopelessly wrong.

Do I call off the attack and possibly, probably, let Tobias and Ax die? Or do I continue and….

{We need back-up! I think we found the device.} Rachel's voice turned my blood cold. Shit!

With a growl I loped towards the sounds of mass destruction. I entered the room and sprung on the nearest Hork-Bajir, ripping out its throat in one swift move.

{Marco! Help Marco!} Tobias called and with a Tseer! he dives down and bursts a Taxxon's eyes with his claws. Rachel subsequently pops the thick worm, like an overextended water balloon. Yellow guts burst from it, sending Taxxons into a feeding frenzy.

Cassie was already gnawing on the leg of a human Controller who was trying to shoot her with a Dracon Beam. He burnt her flank and she let go, howling in pain. Ax lobbed off the Controller's arm with his tailblade.

But I still hadn't spotted Marco. {Marco? Where are you, bro?} I called and swiped a woman with a gun into a concrete wall.

{I found him!} Cassie shouted and limped towards a heap of black. {Marco, demorph!}

A group of Hork-Bajir was slowly stalking towards Marco and Cassie, who had her back turned. I let loose a roar and their attention shifted to me. {Ax defend Cassie. Rachel, do you have eyes on the weapon?} A Taxxon's rows of small teeth attached to my back leg and I snapped around to pop the sucker.

{No-}

{I see it, Jake! I think they're putting it into a helicopter or a Bug-fighter. They have two possible escape routes.} Tobias said as he spun around the heads of the Hork-Bajir, distracting them, while Rachel opened up their guts with a swipe of her claws. It looked like a dance, a ballet, without the pink tutu's of course.

{How's Marco, Cassie?} I asked and moved to stand back-to-back with Ax. One of his stalk eyes were missing and his left forearm hung limply at his side, attached only by a few purple tendons.

{Weeeell, besides the fact that he only has one, einz, arm attached to his booty, he's purr-fecttomento.} Marco's slurred voice sounded.

{He's demorphing.} Cassie confirmed and with a snarl she turned towards a Hork-Bajir that cut off half of her tail.

A loud explosion rocked the building and blasted me a few meters back. I tried blinking the burning lights and dust from my eyes, but the inferno was a permanent imprint.

{The Bug-fighter is down.} Rachel commented. She sounded extremely tired.

{Prince Jake, we have an emergency.} Ax called and gestured to a teardrop-shaped piece of glass on top of a nest of wires and metal. {It's a crude imitation of an Andalite bomb. We used it a long time ago, before we devised better equipment, to wipe out a certain radius of vegetation in the case of runaway fires. I'm afraid this was a trap.}

{Can you defuse it, Ax?} I asked, trying and failing to keep a tone of panic from slipping into my voice. I ducked underneath a Hork-Bajir arm trying to lop of my head. With a feral snarl, I spun around and sank my fangs into the fleshy part between the Hork-Bajir's shoulder blades. With a jerk of my head, I tore through muscle and ripped the arm off. Green blood spurted in wide arcs and the Hork-Bajir collapsed with pain. He was dead in seconds.

{I am sorry, Prince Jake, but the bomb was not made with any precision nor logic.} He answered and plunged his tailblade into a nearby Taxxon.

Thousands of thoughts and scenarios spun through my head, none bringing a solution to light.

{Retreat!} I gave the command and bounded towards Marco to help him. He seemed dizzy from either lack of energy or blood. Probably both.

"Shoo, Jake. They're going to see me and know we aren't actually Andalites. Shoo, Tiger, go home." He stage-whispered deliriously.

{Come on, buddy. Stay with me. Ax help him out. I'll get Cassie.} Cassie was having difficulty disposing of the two human Controllers who were refusing to let go of her fur. One had her enveloped in a bear hug and the other's leg was in Cassie's jaws but he was slowly stretching towards an abandoned gun.

Adrenaline pumped through me. Every fibre in my body was alive with the exhilaration of battle. I lunged and pushed the Controller off of her back. He cracked his skull against the cold floor and his eyes rolled back into his head as yellow and red liquid streamed from his nose and ears. Dead. Without the extra weight, Cassie finished with her Controller quickly and hurried towards the door.

Tseew!

A red beam shot from the shadows hitting Cassie full in the side. A hole as big as my head appeared in her side. She didn't even have time to howl. I heard a sickening crunch as her legs folded from underneath her.

{Cassie! Demorph!} I screamed, searching the gloom for the murderer.

I spotted him, just as a wall of brown fur dealt a deadly blow to his abdomen, jabbing the Controller's ribs into his lungs. With a gurgle he collapsed on the spot, the Dracon Beam still clutched in his hand. I hate to admit it, but I felt a surge of extreme satisfaction.

{Get Cassie, Jake. I've got an idea!} Rachel shouted and the grizzly bear stumbled forward. Her one paw was clutching her stomach, keeping her innards from spilling onto the floor. Her one ear was missing and blood dripped into her eyes. Her fur was singed and blood caked in every inch of anything remaining.

{Rachel… What are- Cassie, you've got to demorph! Go human, Cassie!} Her chest was heaving and there was blood everywhere.

Too late did I notice the demorphed Rachel carrying a pulsating bomb past me.

{Rachel, no!} I screamed, but she simply started to jog towards the helicopter. She pushed the device into the helicopter and climbed in after.

I ran as fast as I could to try and stop her when unimaginable pain suddenly shot through my body. Black spots swam before my eyes. The last thing I saw was the helicopter blades spinning faster and faster. A red-brown streak dove into the helicopter just before it shakily rose from the ground with my cousin nervously clenching the controls and then… darkness.

* * *

_Present time_

Cassie had been crying nonstop for the past half hour. News reports were coming in about an explosion that obliterated a great deal of the state park. No survivors nor any signs of victims have been found. I have never believed in the statement 'No news, is good news' but tonight was a night of many firsts.

"Why? She was my best friend… and… and I, I just left her to die. Rachel's dead!" Cassie was sobbing against my chest. Her small frame, heaving and shaking with shock and utter despair. In her eyes all hope was already lost.

"Sjuut. It's fine, Cassie. Rachel and Tobias are still alive. They are just stuck somewhere. Do you really think a little bomb could kill Rachel?" I tried to whisper soothingly as I rubbed circles on her back.

She looked up at me with eyes ringed with red. Her face was still dirty with blood, and two zigzag rivers of tears ran down her cheeks. "We should have stayed there. We should have searched for her. For them." She starts shaking again. "But we abandoned them!"

Marco groans loudly and stomps over. He takes Cassie by the arm, roughly, and jerks her up. Before I can protest, he takes her face firmly between his palms and looks her directly in the eyes.

"What do you think Rachel would say if she saw you now?" Marco barks sharply. It was not exactly the way I would have handled the situation. Hell, it was as far as the moon from it, but I trusted Marco. He knew people. He could read them like books and, as I've said, I trust him with my life. If he thinks she needs a cold splash of reality, he was probably right.

Cassie, though, looked confused and shocked. Startled by the anger in his voice, she immediately stops with a sniff. She merely stares at him. at a loss of words.

Marco rolls his eyes and gestures at Ax to come closer. "Ax-man, help me out here?"

Ax caught on quickly and with a nod from me, he told Cassie, {I believe that Rachel would not be pleased if she learns of the display of weakness that has transpired. She would see it as a degradation of the female sex.}

Marco broke eye contact for a second to stare at Ax. "Thank you, Ax, for putting that so… ugh, eloquently." He turns back to Cassie, while I could swear Ax beamed with smugness. "Cassie, there's no need to cry. Give Rachel a little more credit than that. She might be nuts but she's one tough cookie!"

My heart swelled with something not far from pride. Of course, then he tried to serenade my girl with a song.

"_She's bulletproof, nothing to lose. Fire away far away. Crochet, you take your aim. Fire away far away. She is vibranium!" _Marco butchered the song, not only with sounding like a cat in a dryer, but by getting the words wrong as well.

Cassie smiled wryly and wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand. "Uh, I think it's actually '_titanium'_."

{Actually, Marco's revised rendition of the song would be more appropriate, since vibranium is clearly the superior metal as proven by the iconic hero, Captain America.}


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Elements1999 for your continued support and Marcus S. Lazarus for your great advice and brilliant suggestions. Oh, and Black Shadow Tigress, you have great taste in music! ;) Also, welcome to laurenbrightwing and unstable. matryoshka. **

**Matt: Thanks for your reviews! The next chapter will be from Annabeth's POV and I have a few more planned. Rachel wakes up in this chapter, but I think you'll like the next one ****a lot ****more!**

**Critique is welcome, enjoy and take note that the exams are starting so updates will be irregular and few, since I usually use Math periods as my writing time.**

* * *

My name is Rachel.

Everything was shrouded in black. I could see absolutely nothing.

I could faintly hear a steady drip-drip echoing somewhere in the darkness. The air smelled of wet soil and silt. I gagged at the cloying stench of decomposition that tried to invade my every sense.

It made me think of the time our house had been caught in a flash flood. The smell of rot became even stronger, as the reminder of the terror I had felt that night made me shiver. I rubbed my hands over my arms to try and regain some semblance of body warmth. It didn't help a bit.

Strange… _am I dead_?

The thought resonated through my head but a niggle of a doubt accompanied it. This must be a dream. I _must _be dreaming.

The darkness was like a tangible thing, making my movements lethargic as I struggled forward to anywhere but here. Something clung to my legs and made a wet 'pop!' each time that I took a step. I quickly realized that I wasn't going anywhere fast.

"I'm flying," I whispered to myself. "I'm flying out of here to Tobias's meadow." Nothing happened. Usually, as soon as I become aware of the fact that I was dreaming I could manipulate it in every which way I want, but this dream was different.

A nauseating green glow suddenly appeared a few feet in front of me. After the endless black the dim flicker burned my eyes. Or maybe my eyes simply burned because of the pure evil radiating from it.

The mud underfoot heaved and propelled me forward against my will. The glow came from two perfectly round orbs embedded in the brown slush. Before my eyes a dip appeared underneath the eyes and dents and nudges formed. As if by an invisible hand of some unknown sculptor a face slowly took shape. A sharp, proud nose protruded from the soil and suddenly, a gasp echoed through the cave. The dip, now identifiable as a mouth, turned into a sneer. The face that had previously seemed aristocratic and hauntingly beautiful, became hideous as an ominous cackle echoed off the green-tinged rocks.

A shriek escaped from my lips as the mud started to rise to my hips. I tried to wade backward, away from the figure still growing, but the mud had solidified and my lower body was now encased in rock. A tall female made entirely from mud loomed over me. My mind flashed back towards that fateful night. Was this how Visser Three stood over Prince Elfangor? Was _he_ this terrified as he stared death in the face?

The thought steeled my nerves and my resolve. I closed my eyes and focused on the Hork-Bajir DNA inside of me. Maybe I could hack myself out of this nightmare?

"Ah, little demigod do not bother." A sinuous whisper came from nowhere and everywhere, the sound waves darting in and out of reach.

I frowned, trying to block out the voice that made goose bumps appear over my arms.

Focus, Rachel! I screamed inside my head, but nothing happened. My eyes snapped open as something cold pricked my cheek.

"That is it, little demigod. Give up now and save yourself the trouble. It is pointless to even try and fight me." The evil voice hissed inside my head. Whatever had touched my face was gone. I couldn't feel my legs and that scared me more than I would have ever thought possible.

What the heck, I might as well admit it. This thing didn't scare me, no, it terrified me and that, _that_, severely pissed my off.

"It's never pointless to fight a bitch!" I snarled, hiding my fear under layers of false bravado. It was okay to be scared, but it was never okay to show it.

A weighty pause followed and then that cackle erupted from every corner of the room. The maniacal laughter, vibrating with power, seemed to tear through my very soul.

"I like you, little demigod. You are quite amusing." What was it with this creep and 'little demigod'? Was it code for something? "If you would perhaps swear undying loyalty and allegiance to me, I might even consider sparing your life."

I was just about to tell Miss Mud to shove her allegiance where the sun don't shine, when she continued with a melodramatic sigh, "But, alas, I know you, Rachel. You do not care about odds. You will foolishly fight till the very end. As stupid and-"

I decided to interrupt this nutty woman's tirade. What was it with bad guys and boring speeches? "Sorry, lady, but I hate evil monologues. Can we just cut to the chase?"

Immediately, the air around me started cooling rapidly. My breath appeared in wisps of foggy white in front of my face. The mud started to bubble in direct contrast to the shift in temperature. Huge bubbles slowly grew and with each burst, released a mushroom cloud of foul yellow gas into the air. I coughed as the acidic gas burned my lungs.

It's just a dream, Rachel. It's only a _dream_.

Unfortunately, I didn't believe myself. This wasn't the first time that I have had such a realistic nightmare. It has been happening more frequently over the past few months and caused me several sleepless nights.

The plague of nightmares had started with a vision of a monster shrouded in clouds and wind raging through a city. Then there was the dream about a huge hourglass falling out of the sky and crushing the Empire State building. The worst dream was one about children bathed in golden light with swords made of lightning and fire, fighting creatures more hideous than Taxxons… and dying in droves.

Sleep has been my worst enemy, especially these recent weeks. No nightmares. No, it was the foreboding sense that the world was going to end that kept me up. I knew Tobias noticed and I was glad that he hadn't mentioned it to the others. Jake would probably have banned me from fighting with them and going on missions. Can't have a tired teammate guarding your back!

But this dream, this vision, felt different. It felt real. The _evil_ felt extremely real.

"The point, stupid, little demigod, is that I know everything about you. I know everything about you and your friends, the Animorphs." She spat our team's name out as if was a disgusting taste. Yeah, sure, Marco had the creativity, equivalent to that of a stick's and the name could use some work, but only I was allowed to point it out!

"And now, those barbaric aliens are going to try and claim the victory I have been planning for millennia. I am so close to reaching my full power, but all of my pawns are not yet in place. My son have caused a significant amount of discord and ruin, but I will be the final, deciding blow. Olympus will fall by my hand and by my hand alone." She paused and I coughed. My eyes were watering and my vision was starting to blur. My lungs were on fire. She smiled, almost like she knew what I was thinking and enjoying seeing my pain.

"So, the point, little demigod, is that I come with a gift. A warning…." She paused again, for effect. Miss Mud seemed to love the sight of prolonged suffering. "By luck and chance, those slimy slugs have infested one of your brethren and are planning an attack on your precious Camp."

The woman made of earth's lips twisted upward in a sinister smile and without warning bursts into dust, sinking into the again boiling mud.

The rock holding my legs loosened and I take my chance. I have to get out of here. The mud had to be getting really hot, since steam evaporated from the surface but I could not feel it burning my skin. The bubbles weren't releasing gas anymore, but seemed to be erupting and letting more and more mud fill up the cave.

In seconds the mud reached my shoulders. I kept my hands above my head and wriggled forward. There had to be a way out. This is my dream. Damn it! I'm the only one in control of my dreams!

My little pep-talk (inspirational as it was), made no difference. The mud continued to rise.

The mud didn't burn. The mud didn't sting. The mud intended to rise up, invade my body and steal the life-giving air from my lungs. I took one last deep breath of air that stank of chemicals, closed my eyes and pinched my nose shut. Like brown cookie dough, the goo crept over my face, enveloping me in endless darkness and silence.

The seconds crawled by. I wasn't sure how long I could hold my breath. My lungs had been on fire because of the sulphuric air, but now they were screaming. Was I going to die in a nightmare?

Considering what I did as an extracurricular activity, the thought seemed hilariously absurd. Or… maybe it was just the lack of oxygen to my brain talking. My thoughts _were_ kind of hazy and pins and needles danced all over my body. I should probably let go.

The pressure around me was building and my head felt as if it was going to explode. Maybe I should just let go.

It would be so much easier to just let go….

* * *

With a gasp I sit up, clutching my throat. I gulped down cool, fresh, wonderful oxygen and I might have simply imagined it in my ecstasy, but I could swear the air tasted of strawberries. For a few moments of pure bliss, I merely breathed, thoroughly enjoying the luxury that so many people dismiss as an everyday right.

Never had the nightmares been so real. Never had they interacted with me nor did they try to kill me. With a sigh, I forcefully pushed all thoughts of the dream to the back of my mind.

I swung my legs over the side and froze as they touched smooth wood. What? Where was my fluffy carpet?

My mind came awake with a flurry of frenetic thoughts. Everything rushed back to me from last night and it felt as if the world crashed down on me. With a groan, I massaged my temples. My brain was protesting loudly at the sudden onslaught of thoughts.

We fought, we kicked ass and Marco got hurt. The Chee had been wrong, I blew myself up… and then… What happened after that? How was I even alive?

It felt as if an electric current suddenly shot through me. Where was Tobias?

I threw off the blanket that had still been draped over my lap and stood up. I carefully looked around, surveying my unusual surroundings. Where on earth was I?

Well, this place was definitely not my house. It didn't even remotely look like a place that I would ever willingly spend the night. The weirdest things were stacked and scattered over every available surface. Clothes, small statues, ornate knives, what looked like actual jewels, soap, arrows and a few stacks of golden fudge were strewn everywhere. If you can think of it, it was probably here, buried underneath things that should never be together in a sane person's home.

A shiver travelled down my spine. Something strange was definitely going on, but first things first. I had to find Tobias and get the hell out of here. Not necessarily in that order.

I stepped forward and a draft from somewhere made me shiver in my scant morphing outfit. "We really need to work on that," I whispered to myself under my breath, taking a small amount of comfort from the sound of my voice.

On tip-toes, I crept to the door. My eyes were darting around for any sign of movement or danger, but the big wooden house-thing was silent. I winced slightly as a plank underfoot, creaked eerily.

I considered morphing an insect, since a bird would have no immediate escape, but none of my insect morphs had a very accurate sense of direction. If I could open the door a bit, I could morph and fly out. Easy!

With my "plan" decided, I reached slowly for the round handle. As the cold copper touched my fingers, a scream of pure terror and rage rang out.

My blood turned to ice.

My thoughts immediately rushed towards the two unprotected sisters of mine that were still blissfully unaware of the war for the world being waged around them. The uncontrollable sisterly instinct to protect bubbled through me and without a second thought I rushed outside into the bright sunlight.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: This chapter is dedicated to superpony55 for your review, follow and favourite. As always, a special thank you to Elements1999 for all your encouragement.**

**I honestly don't understand Trigonometry, and on that note, enjoy!**

* * *

Annabeth's POV

Last night she had barely slept a wink. She simply couldn't get her brain to shut down. Sure, it was a common problem for Athena's kids, but they learn from an early age how to blank out their brains, so that they could find rest against the onslaught of ideas and calculations that filled their every waking moment. It was a necessary skill.

This time, however, it wasn't rational thoughts that kept her up. It was worry. For some reason the strange girl wandering into camp, had tripped a lot of wires in her brain. It was not unusual for demigods to wander, stumble, run and roll into camp at the most inappropriate of times, especially the past two months since the Battle of Manhattan. So far the gods have kept their promise and demigods from all over the world found their way to camp. The monster activity had also increased in the area, which put everybody on their toes. But… that girl, though…

"Annabeth? Are you ready?" A voice startled her out of her thoughts. Percy's sea-green eyes came into her line of sight. He was staring at her perplexedly.

"Yeah, of course I'm ready." She said and shrugged, masking her surprise at the fact that she didn't know when she had actually arrived in the mess hall. Annabeth stood up and started heading into the direction of the Climbing Wall.

"Ugh, okay, but you haven't even eaten any of your food." Percy commented and walked alongside her. She picked up her pace. Maybe if she walked fast enough, he wouldn't be able to talk and ask questions.

"I wasn't hungry. I ate a lot of smores last night." She replied nonchalantly, but by the look of Percy's face in her peripheral vision, she didn't succeed in fooling him.

"So," Percy started again and clasped his hands behind his back. "Where are we going?"

"To the climbing wall," Annabeth told him and suppressed a sigh.

"Why?" He asked, stretching out the word. Was he deliberately trying to annoy her? If it weren't for the fact that he looked so innocent, she would have hit him behind the head. But he _did_ look genuinely clueless.

"Well, we're going to practice and train. What we usually do when we have the Climbing Wall slot."

"Yeah, but that's what we did yesterday. Fridays the Athena and Poseidon cabins have arts and crafts, before Capture the Flag."

Annabeth froze for a split second. No, more like a one hundredth of a second. Before her brain could even register her plan, she was executing it.

A shaky laugh escaped her lips.

_Note to self: Work on acting talent._

"Congratulations, Seaweed Brain! You passed the test. Your observation skills have greatly improved." He looked surprised, extremely confused and utterly adorable. Then with a lopsided grin that made her heart flutter, he took Annabeth's shoulders and turned her around into the direction of the Arts and Crafts building.

They walked in a companionable silence until they came near the Canoe lake. The Aphrodite campers had a canoeing lesson that morning and ear-piercing shrieks and splutters could be heard. The cabins were just opposite the lake.

"Look," Percy suddenly said softly and pointed at the cabins. The cabins used to be in a horseshoe shape, but now it looked more like the omega symbol with all the added cabins. It seemed appropriate.

Annabeth squinted in the early morning light until she spotted a certain son of Hermes creeping between the cabins, as silent as a shadow. If Percy hadn't pointed him out, she probably wouldn't have noticed Connor (or she thinks it is Connor). Huh, looks like she was right after all. Percy's observation skills have improved.

"What is he doing?" She whispered back. It was a good question. With Cabin 11 you never knew what to expect. Their father was a Jack of all trades and he was infamous for his pranks. His children followed naturally in his footsteps. She could take a guess at a few likely scenarios that could unfold, but none of them were good.

"Aphrodite cabin," Percy replied.

"Idiot! Hadn't they learnt their lesson after the last curse?" She muttered under her breath. Last month, Travis had hidden all of the Aphrodite children's straighteners in the Ares Cabin. The Aphrodite kids were furious and in retaliation, stole the boar head from the Ares campers. It went back and forth, each prank more elaborate than the next, until Clarisse and Drew called a truce and figured out who the real culprit was.

Travis didn't know what hit him. Literally. He ended up with a dislocated shoulder, a black eye and very hairy legs. He was the laughing stock of the camp because he had to shave his legs every two hours for a week, to avoid looking like a Cyclops during winter.

Percy grinned. "Clearly not. Should we shout a warning?" He asked with enthusiasm lacing his voice at the prospects of seeing a master prankster at work.

Annabeth rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Most of the campers aren't even here and Cabin 10 is at the canoe lake. I think we're safe. He'll probably leave once he realizes-"

Suddenly, Lacy came jogging past, a broken oar in her hands. "Have you seen Drew? She came here almost ten minutes ago to replace her regular mascara with waterproof and hasn't come back yet." Lacy panted and leaned heavily on the oar. She was short and slightly chubby with braces but no less beautiful than any of her brothers and sisters. Although even her natural ability to look effortlessly pretty was being challenged by the fact that she was covered head to toe in mud and her hair stood out in every possible direction.

Percy's eyes widened. "Drew is in _there_?" He pointed at the cabin. Annabeth quickly scanned the area with her eyes, till she found Connor. He was standing beneath a window of Cabin 10. Connor had a small pink box in his hands and was preparing to throw it inside.

A murderous spark appeared in Lacy's eyes. "Percy. Rainbow. Now!" She spat out between gritted teeth.

Aphrodite campers were gorgeous. Aphrodite campers were usually damsels in distress. Not now, though. This Aphrodite camper looked terrifying.

Percy obeyed immediately and Annabeth couldn't blame him. With a wave of his hand, he took water from the dew still clinging to the grass and from the mist lingering in the early morning light. A shimmering rainbow appeared.

"Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, accept my offering. Show me Mitchel at the canoe lake." Lacy threw a drachma in and Mitchell's face came into view.

"Lace? What's wrong?" He looked just as bad as his sister, brown glop from the bottom of the lake covering every inch of him. _What had they been doing?_ Annabeth thought, baffled.

"Connor is on the move and Drew is in the cabin."

The change in Mitchell was sudden, unexpected and remarkable. His eyes hardened and he stood up straighter. "Cabin 10!" he shouted and turned around towards his siblings. "Connor is targeting Drew!"

As one, the cabin stopped what they were doing and climbed out of the lake.

"Hades! That brat's going to pay!" Somebody exclaimed and ran through the Iris message, breaking the connection.

Lacy was grinning evilly. "He won't mess-"

She was cut off by a muffled boom. A cloud of shimmering dust burst out of every opening in Cabin 10. There was a second of anxious silence, before a bone-chilling scream rang out.

_Note to self: Drew would make an excellent banshee._

The scream was followed by an equally terrifying cry of, "For Aphrodite!" and before you could say 'glitter', Lacy had picked up what was left of her oar and was storming at a very startled looking son of Hermes.

"Hermes to cabins! Backup now!" Connor only had enough time to call out on his walky-talky before he was ploughed over by a mud-covered Lacy. Everything went downhill from there.

Hermes children were unbelievably fast, no doubt about that, and arrived on the scene almost instantly. For a second they looked shocked and then they started laughing at the unusual sight. Big. Mistake.

Drew came out of the Cabin wielding eyeliner and a sword. Or at least, that's what it might have been before it had been bathed in bright pink glitter. She immediately rushed at the nearest kid from Cabin 11 and attacked like a ferocious squirrel – all claws and squeaks.

Mud-covered children also reached the cabins and with an unintelligible war cry jumped into the fray.

Unfortunately for the Hermes campers, they had been on the volleyball court and were armed, at the most, with a few orange balls. They could only duck and swerve as paddles and fists were swinging left and right at anything that moved. Glitter and mud littered the battle field.

"Should we do something?" Percy asked, simply for the sake of having to ask, since he was clearly enjoying the show.

Annabeth winced as Lacy's oar finally connected with Chris's face and he sunk to the ground, unconscious. Clarisse was not going to be happy. "Douse them with water." She commanded sternly.

Percy frowned, as if in deep concentration, but she knew the extent of his powers well enough to know that he could lift up the whole river with a flick of his wrist. The water from the river behind them slowly started snaking upwards. Too slowly. She glared pointedly at him and the water rose a fraction faster. He grinned at her in a fashion that looked very similar to that of his mischievous cousins. He looked back to the brawl and froze.

So in sync were they, that Annabeth immediately swerved around and stepped in front of Percy to defend him at all costs, without even assessing the battle field first. They have fought together so many times, that it was an instinct ingrained into her very essence.

A whirlwind had appeared in the fight. Not a Percy-whirlwind, but an actual person who was creating a circle of destruction around her.

It was a sight to behold. A girl in a bright blue leotard was taking down anybody with a possible weapon. She had no weapon of her own and was clearly not an actual trained fighter, but she was holding her own and winning.

The water behind Annabeth splashed back into the river as Percy lost concentration.

Lacy, sensing that the Hermes kids might not be the biggest threat anymore, turned towards the girl. She lifted the oar that was still clenched tightly in her hands and swung at the stranger. The girl ducked and spun on her feet, golden hair flaring around her. Using her gathered momentum, she hooked her foot around Lacy's legs and caused Lacy to fall on her bum.

A son of Hermes tried to tackle her, but she dodged and slammed her elbow into his back. He collapsed on the ground with a groan, winded.

The girl was momentarily distracted by a Hermes kid who zipped past her with unnatural speed and Drew seized the opportunity. Drew threw the girl with a glittery object from a few meters away, which hit the girl in the back of the head. The stranger turned slowly around and bared her teeth in an animalistic way. With two strides of her long legs, she stood before Drew and with a jerk of her arm, punched Drew in the nose. Blood poured from it.

Annabeth moved forward to attack the girl, but Percy's hand clamped around her arm. A watery hand reached from behind them towards the girl. She took one look at it, her azure blue eyes as big as saucers, and then did something nobody expected. She started running right at the huge fist that was the product of Percy's imagination.

Annabeth had seen plenty of reckless demigod plans. Sometimes it was necessary, to preserve the element of surprise, but _this_ defied all previous examples of stupid.

Percy forced the water to reach out and scoop the girl up, immobilising her with watery fingers.

A loud screech caused everybody to look up. A bird, a red-tailed hawk, sped towards them. It was of no importance to Annabeth's mind, so she turned back to the problem at hand. To her utter surprise, the girl had stopped struggling and frowned at the bird. A flash of irritation appeared on the girl's face and Annabeth could see that she hated giving up the fight.

"Okay, I'm fine!" The girl called out with a sigh. "You can let go now." Her voice was tinged with barely constrained anger.

Percy didn't let go. The girl sighed again, as if this was all a terrible inconvenience. "My name is Rachel and I'm sorry if anyone is hurt. I thought aliens were attacking." She nodded her head in the direction of the Aphrodite campers. A small smile was tugging at her lips, as if somebody had just told her an inside joke. Annabeth had to give her the benefit of doubt, since Cabin 10 did look like monsters, covered in mud, weeds and the gods know what else.

With a nod of confirmation from Annabeth, Percy lowered the girl and dried her off. He also tried to rinse off some of the Aphrodite children, but quickly stopped at their indignant squeals.

"Thanks," the girl, Rachel, said and shook her head slightly as if trying to wake herself from a dream. "I'm really sorry for the intrusion. I'll just be on my way." She turned around and started walking towards Half-Blood Hill. She had a slight limp, putting most of her weight on her right leg.

"Wait!" Annabeth shouted and ran after her. She grabbed Rachel's arm and spun her around. "You can't leave. You belong here."

Rachel's mouth twisted into a mocking sneer. "You know nothing about me. Who are you to tell me where I belong?" Her voice lowered to a dangerous whisper and her eyes were like ice.

"If you would just sit down and hear me out, I promise you'll understand." Annabeth tried to explain, keeping her voice calm. She didn't want to show that the fierce look in the strange girl's eyes unnerved her. "I know this seems pretty strange, but-"

Rachel threw her eyes upward, as if she was calling on an higher power for help, and stopped Annabeth mid-sentence with a wave of her hand.

Annabeth could feel fury starting to simmer in her blood. She understood confusion and its results; she had seen many a half-blood under its influence. This girl, though, was being plain rude and that had no excuse. She was just about to give the girl a decent piece of her mind, when Rachel relented.

"Alright, I'll listen," She looked Annabeth directly in the eyes, and Annabeth got the feeling that the choice wasn't entirely her own.

"Great!" Percy exclaimed and jogged up to the girls. "We'll go to the Big House and talk like civilised human beings. I'll gather the councillors." He gave Rachel a small smile and left to help restrain Drew who was still trying to murder Connor even though she had a broken nose.

The girls watched as Percy pulled them apart with a simple word.

"He yours?" Rachel asked with a grin. Annabeth guessed that her eyes must have given it away.

Annabeth graced Rachel with a curt nod and a glare. The sly look in Rachel's eyes made Annabeth think of the daughters of Aphrodite. They were known for playing their heartbreak games to 'honour' their mother.

Rachel lifted her hands in mock surrender, her smile widening further. "I'm not going to try and steal him. I'm taken," She said. "But nice catch though."

This time, Annabeth couldn't help but grin back in surprise.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: This chapter is for laurenbrightwing. I think I passed my test! I can't forget about Elements1999 - thank you for your unwavering support. Also, thanks again to Marcus S. Lazarus for the ideas. Welcome to bookwormrdd, menatron, animallover41097 and Nianque, who followed.**

**Matt: Thanks for your reviews and suggestions. I don't think the Romans will be in this story though. **

**Oh, and since I have this weird thing against OC's, I'll try and keep them out. But it will be necessary to introduce one or two in the future. I'm so proud of the way that I subtly danced around the unknown characters in this chapter, so enjoy!**

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My name is Rachel.

The only reason why I was still seated in this rickety garden chair was because Tobias constantly told me to sit down, shut up and listen.

The things they talk about seem impossible and absurd. They spin tales of heroes and legends, but their words shake me. Their words echo those of my nightmare: _demigod_.

"So… you're telling me that one of my parents isn't actually my parent and that my real parent is some immortal god that lives on Mount Olympus?" I lift an eyebrow questioningly.

"Well, actually the gods now reside on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building," Pollux, apparently a son of Dionysus, tells me.

A dry chuckle escapes my lips. "Do you even hear yourselves? You sound cuckoo!"

{Rachel, you saw what Percy did. I saw with my own eyes how Will healed you with a bit of syrup. Chiron has the lower body of a horse….} I could hear the exasperation in Tobias's voice. He sits on a windowsill in my direct line of sight, preening his feathers. {We fight aliens on a daily basis. Why is this so hard to believe? The myths had to come from somewhere. Where there's smoke, there's fire after all.}

He was right. But I didn't want to believe it. Was my life not crazy enough?

"Child, have you never noticed strange, unexplainable things in your life? Things that you saw but nobody else?" Chiron speaks up. He radiates an infectious sense of serenity and peace. "Perhaps a sense of danger before something happens? Or realistic dreams that came true?"

Goose bumps appear on my arms at that. Luckily, Annabeth had loaned me some of her clothes after a quick shower, so the reaction was hidden beneath a grey sweater.

I want nothing more than to bolt. To run and never look back. I couldn't deny that when they spoke, it felt as if a string was being plucked in my heart and reverberating recognition through my soul. They were offering me an explanation for a lot of crazy things but the price, losing either my mother or my father, was too high.

"How did you get here?" Annabeth asks when she realises that I'm not going to answer the previous set of questions.

My eyes automatically flicker to Tobias. "Ugh," I start, returning my attention to Annabeth. "I kinda just stumbled on it." She nods as if that was a perfectly logical explanation.

"Have you ever had any training in martial arts or maybe a self-defence class?" A butch girl, whose father was some war hero or something, asks curtly.

I shake my head in a muted no. I have never received any training to defend myself, not in the way she meant.

"Well then, how do you explain the way you ploughed through some of our best warriors?" One of the two identical elf-looking boys asks.

I notice that Annabeth rolled her eyes at that comment and made the logical deduction. "If those were your 'best warriors', I really don't want to see your worst."

The girl still covered in pink glitter and dirt, gives an indignant gasp. Her eyes immediately start to water because of her still tender nose and Will Solace, a total hotty, gives her one of the pieces of fudge that were lying around. She gratefully nibbles at it and glares at me.

Percy clears his throat and speaks up. Everyone turns to him, as if drawn by a magnet. He was clearly the leader. "Rachel, I know it's difficult to accept, but you are different. You have known it for a while. You are special and you have the potential to do great things. All you have to do is accept your birth right." His sea-green eyes holds a gravity in them. How could anyone ever say no to this guy?

{He's right, you took to the fighting like a duckling to water.} Tobias says softly and sigh. {But if you're not even considering the possibility that what they are saying is true, we can leave right now. I'll distract-}

"Okay!" I say louder than I intended. The startled expressions on their faces were priceless though. "_Okay_. Let's consider for a moment that this _might _be true. Why didn't I get here sooner then? Why didn't anybody ever come and look for me? Why didn't my mum or dad tell me about it?" I ask, trying my best, and failing, to keep my voice from rising an octave or so.

"A lot of new demigods have simply arrived, drawn here by some unknown force because of a deal Percy made with the gods," A massive guy with a rainbow tattoo on his bicep reply's. I frown at it for a second and shrug. Very masculine…. "And a lot of the mortal parents don't even know that their kids are half-bloods."

Annabeth nods in agreement. "We usually try to keep them oblivious to the reality, since the knowledge of something beyond the ordinary, places them in harm's way and can occasionally drive them mad." She had a faraway look in her eyes as she says the last part, as if she was talking from experience. Percy squeezes her hand softly. I decide to avoid that topic.

"And if you were wondering about the immortal parents; they are practically forbidden from associating with their offspring." The counsellor from the Tyche cabin says whilst trying to bounce Ping-Pong balls into an empty coffee mug. Well, that rule sounds incredibly dumb.

Miranda Gardiner also chips in, "There's a magical Mist that covers most of the mortal world. Only gods, demigods, monsters and some clear-sighted mortals can see through it. It's like a permanent illusion that protects ordinary people." They think of everything, I'll give them that.

"How do you know for sure I'm a demigod?" I ask in one last attempt to determine the truth.

"The camp is protected by a magical barrier that only allows those with the blood of the immortals to pass through." Chiron answers. I keep my focus on his face. The desire to stare anywhere but, was like an itch you're unable to scratch. "Monsters and mortals cannot get through it."

Then, how had Tobias been able to pass through it? I muse. As if he read my mind, Tobias says, {I'm technically a bird, remember?}

"And half alien." I joke aloud without thinking.

"No, half god." Will frowns and I can feel Tobias's piercing gaze on me. "Also last night while you were unconscious I gave you some nectar. If you hadn't been a demigod, the drink would have caused you to… spontaneously combust." I gulp. That was some strong stuff. I warily eye the pieces of fudge littered all over the place. Mini pieces of dynamite?

"Ambrosia. Food of the gods." Annabeth notices my stare. "In small quantities it has the power to heal our injuries or give us a boost of energy and strength."

A short silence reigns where everybody simply stare at me. Uncomfortable was not the word.

"What happens now?" I ask. I had no more questions. It didn't mean that I believed them entirely and that I accepted all of these bogus stories, but I didn't have much of a choice.

"What's your name?" Annabeth asks and pulls out a computer with an unfamiliar logo – a triangle.

I frown. "Umh… Rachel?"

Annabeth shakes her head, "Your full name, please."

Sure I was entertaining the possibility that this was all true, but I wasn't going to give them access to my family and ultimately, Jake and the rest of the team. "Rachel Hawk." I tell her confidently, eliciting a chuckle from Tobias.

"You're lying!" The elf twins, Travis and Connor, proclaim in unison.

"No, I'm not," came the automatic reply, the product of living with two little sisters.

They merely grin at me. "Yes, you are." Connor says. "We know you're lying. Our dad is the god of thieves, so don't even try and deceive the kids of the ultimate deceiver." Travis subtly shoots him a confused look at that sentence.

"My name is Rachel-"

"Berenson," Annabeth cuts me off. I stare at her in surprise. She looks at me with a small smile. "Daedalus' laptop," she says as an explanation. "There's nothing it can't do." Her voice is tinged with immense pride.

{Daedalus was a great inventor. Icarus?} How did Tobias know all of this? I didn't have a clue what or who they were talking about. I'll have to talk to him about it later.

"Rachel Berenson. Straight A student. Aspiring gymnast." I lean over to see my entire pedigree on the screen. "I'm thinking that your immortal blood comes from your father's side. You look a lot like your mother." Annabeth murmurs in thought as her eyes quickly scan over my life story.

Her words hit me like a cement truck.

My dad was not my dad. My dad was not my _real_ dad. _Daddy_…

{Rachel, calm down! Breathe.} Tobias's whispers inside my mind. His soothing voice only, and barely, helps me to conceal my inner turmoil. My eyes burn with salty tears. I stare at the bright coin in Will's hand. He was expertly twirling it between the fingers of his left hand. Every now and then the coin glints brightly, shining in an invisible light source.

"We don't know who he is, so you'll be staying with the Hermes campers until you're claimed." Annabeth continues and relief seeps through me. Thank goodness they didn't notice my almost outburst.

Then my brain registers what she said. _Claimed?_ He, my so-called 'father' was going to claim me as if I'm some lost bangle?!

{Rachel.} Tobias says sternly and it takes every ounce of self-control I possess to not snarl at him to shut up.

I clench my fists, swallow down bile and nod.

"Wonderful!" Chiron exclaims. "Travis and Connor will give you a tour of camp and then show you to the Armoury. You are in luck. Today the cabins participate in the weekly Capture the Flag." He announces and walks (trots?) out.

As soon as he leaves, all of the other children also depart in a rush. Only the two twins remain with equally excited grins.

I clear my throat. "Before we start, could I perhaps call my mom just to tell her I'm safe?"

Travis frowns for a second and nods. "You can use the payphone, but only for a minute. Something about the waves and demigod auras mixing, attracts monsters… or that's what Annabeth said… I think. She says it will only be here for another month, to see if the Athena or Hephaestus cabin can figure out a solution to the problem. As you can see, the thing is as good as gone anyway." He doesn't sound too sure, but graciously shows me to a rusty payphone.

I quickly dial the number, making sure they couldn't see. Jake picks up on the third ring. "Rache?" His voice sounds stressed, not at all surprising.

"Hey mom! Yeah, sorry I made you worry. I'm going to stay at dad's for a little while." I reply loudly with fake enthusiasm.

"Rache, are you and Tobias safe? Where are you?" Now his voice was low and serious - that of a born leader - keeping his head in any situation.

"Yes, to the first, and I'm thinking of going to a camp on the edge of the island. Apparently it looks great on your résumé."

He immediately answers, "Fine, we're on our way."

"No, I'm okay. That's not necessary. Just replace me with one of my… uhm, sisters." Dammit! Curse him and his protectiveness. Haven't I proven on numerous occasions that I can take care of myself?

"Get yourself out of wherever you are as soon as possible. Clearly you're being watched with a cover, but if you're not-" With a beep the phone cuts off. Surprised, I numbly stare at the dead earpiece in my hand.

"Yeah, it shuts down after a minute for security purposes. Sorry," Connor explains and rubs the back of his neck. "It will be dead for the next 24 hours or so."

I try not to look as frustrated as I feel. Just my luck. I hope Jake doesn't rush here straightaway.

"Come on!" Connor suddenly swings his arm around my shoulders. "Let's go to the Forges first." And with that he drags me off to a massive building spewing smoke. Clanging sounds erupted from inside and the heat could be felt from meters away.

"You'll receive a better weapon as soon as you know who your real parent. Hephaestus and Athena campers make their own weapons. Apollo kids have enough bows for the world. As sons of the god of thieves, _we_ are basically born with the right to 'borrow' only the best." A dimple winks in and out of view as Travis smiles, a mischievous glint in his eyes. They really ride the 'god of thieves' train, don't they?

The heat inside was almost unbearable. Kids with callous hands and bulging muscles hammered at pieces of red hot metal. Some of them were barely breaking a sweat!

"Hey, Jake!" Connor yelled over the raucous noise. As one, everybody stopped. Only the huff-huff of the steam and the crackle of fire could be heard.

"What do you want, Connor?" A buff girl, wearing a red bandana and an irritated expression, asks. Her hand slowly creeps towards the back pocket of her jeans and clutches her wallet.

Connor and Travis smirk, their keen eyes tracking the movement instinctively. "Oh, Nyssa, we would never. We're just here to help this poor camper find a weapon." Connor says and gestures at me. I ignore the 'poor' and smile at the girl and her siblings; wouldn't want to make enemies with them.

"Uh-huh, find a weapon for her, and see how many other weapons you can pilfer from our stockpile, right?" Nyssa glares at them.

A guy with slightly singed hair steps forward. I remember seeing him in the Big House. Another Jake. They were both leaders, but that's where the resemblance stopped "Okay, it's fine, Nyssa. I'll accompany them." Jake smiles at her and herds us out of the door. From the corner of my eye, I could swear I saw an eight year old swinging a huge hammer.

Jake leads us to the Garden Shed of Doom and gestures for me to go inside first. The place was filled from ground to ceiling with every weapon and tool imaginable. Green fire lit the dark room and caused the mountains of metal to radiate an eerie gleam. Everything looked deadly, even the lawnmower (probably the only actual gardening tool) looked as if it was made to cut down anything but grass.

The three boys stare at me with matching looks of expectation. "Ugh, what should I do now?" I ask, extremely confused.

"You know yourself best, so choose a weapon that fits you." Jake steps forward and lifts an axe from the wall. "I know my strength is my greatest asset so I choose a heavier weapon with the greatest amount of force. The Stoll's are nimble and quick, thus knives and daggers will suit them better. If your aim is great and you're more of a long distance fighter, maybe a small catapult or a crossbow. Later, when you've had some training, you'll be able to make a more informed choice but for now, a sword is the simple solution."

Know myself? I like the raw power of the wolf, the brute strength of the elephant and the sharp claws of the bear. My eyes scan the room. Huh, maybe the lawnmower isn't such a bad idea after all.

Jake walks to the back of the room and opens a closet. He removes a beautiful long sword and hands it to me. I take the pommel and clutch it with both hands. It was… uh… long and pointy and heavy. "I don't think this will work. I barely know how to fight, let alone with a sword almost the length of me." I argue, even though the feel of the blade in my hands was thrilling and empowering. The steel glowed a light bronze and the red stone set in the handle sparkled.

"Eh, it's in your blood. You'll learn quicker than _that._" Connor comments and snaps his fingers for emphasis. He eyes the sword with an interested gaze.

"Connor's right, but maybe not that sword. Just something small and light should do for now. She's new, so no one will see her as much of a threat." Travis says and takes the sword from me. Jake promptly takes it back with a warning glare. Travis grins, unabashed.

"Anyway, if anyone dares to even come near you, Rachel, I'll protect you with my life." Connor pledges solemnly before he winks and the serious façade, that only shone through for a second, washes away.

Jake puts the sword away and hands me a plain looking blade. "It's just a training xiphos for now. Once you get a bit more practice, develop a style and get claimed, you can get another, better one." I take it gingerly. Umh, what was the deal with the big sword then? I wonder.

"Well, that's it then! On we go." Connor says and pushes me out into the bright sunlight. I squint my eyes, getting accustomed to the sun, and spot Tobias circling above. I give him a subtle wave.

{Whoo, shiny.} He comments. {What kind of metal is that?}

"So, what kind of metal is this?" I ask the twins. The sword was lighter and smaller than the other one, but looked just as sharp. I noticed that almost all of the weapons were made from a slightly glowing metal.

"It's Celestial Bronze. It can kill monster but not hurt mortals." Travis tells me as we walk to who knows where. It was almost midday and the sun was shining hotly on my back. "That's one of the things that makes it all the more dangerous to be a demigod. Because we're half mortal, ordinary metals can kill us, but we're also half-god, which means that Celestial Bronze and Stygian Iron can hurt us too."

Scary…

"On your right, you can see the Strawberry Fields. How are you with gardening? Demeter and Dionysus kids like to hang there. It's part of the camps cover, y'know? We sell strawberries." I only had time to nod before Connor continues. "Coming up on your left is the Arena where most of the training happens and over the lake, you can see the Big House, the Volleyball courts, Arts and Crafts and if you squint really hard, you can just make out the Amphitheatre." Connor points and gestures wildly, a tour guide extraordinaire. He clearly does this a lot by the looks of it.

"Here we are!" Travis announces when we arrive in front of a bunch of large cabins. Each one looked completely different from the next. There was one with a really bad paintjob, an ugly boar head and barbed wire that looked quite disturbing. Another glowed so brightly in the sun that I couldn't look at it for more than a second. One of them was pure black and radiated shadows, if that was possible.

"Home sweet home," Connor says and climbs the steps of a nearby cabin. It was by far the most unimpressive. Chipped paint, worn wood. Even the winged stick with the snakes looked like it had seen a better century. I try not to let my disappointment show, telling myself that at least I wasn't sleeping inside the cabin that looked like a warzone. Yikes!

I follow the brothers inside. Bunk beds line the walls and the floor was littered with clothes, weapons and other odd things. I might have imagined it, but I think I saw a pair of shoes with wings. Then again, how impossible is that when it comes to my life?

Travis hands me a pillow and a sleeping bag and points to the first bed on the left. "That bed's open, so you can choose top or bottom. Connor went to fetch you some toiletries." Wow, I hadn't even notice him going.

{There's a crowd of people gathering near the forest. Some of the kids look exceptionally mean.} Tobias reports, ever the watchful guardian. I might not be able to see him at times, but I always knew he was there.

"Here you go, Rachel. I snagged you some of the necessities." Connor appears next to me and hands me a toothbrush, toothpaste, an orange t-shirt and a blue plastic hairbrush. The orange t-shirt had a picture of a winged horse on the front and some strange letters underneath. The same type of letters were engraved on the handle of the hairbrush. Before my eyes, the letters seemed to shimmer and shift into readable text. _Camp Half-Blood_ and _Oracle's Weapon of Choice_.

"Whoah, what was that?" I exclaim, startled.

Travis looks at me strangely. "The Greek? Most demigods have dyslexia because our minds are hardwired to read the Ancient language. We also have an instinctual reflex not to stay still for very long, which modern doctors diagnose as ADHD. You must be one of the lucky few who don't have it." He shrugs but I was too busy still staring at the t-shirt. It's not every day you learn you're half-god and can automatically read Greek. Ugh, I could feel a huge headache starting.

Suddenly a horn sounds in the distance. If possible, Connor perks up even more. He looks like an adorable, excited puppy. "Yes! Capture the Flag is starting. Come on!" He yells and frantically starts pulling me out of the door.

"Wait, I don't know how to play! What are the rules?" But my protests are to the wind as the twin boys sweep me off towards the foreboding woods. My only consolation was the ever present shadow of a red-tailed hawk following in our wake.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: This chapter is dedicated to menatron for your enthusiasm. Elements1999, thanks for being my greatest supporter. ****Thank you to Son of Zeus0001 and SpiderFangWolverine123 for the compliments. ****Matt, the eight year old is Harley, not Leo. **

**Sorry, superpony55 that this is a bit later than I promised. It's my sister's fault for forcing me to watch 200 episodes of Naruto in three days, in the middle of the exams.**

**Thank you to Anonymous who pointed out a few mistakes in my previous chapters. It really helps me improve, since my native language is not English but Afrikaans which has only three tenses and nothing like concord - my greatest enemy. I apologise for being trigger happy when it comes to commas.**

**En Lana, as jy ooit uiteindelik by my storie uitkom, baie dankie vir alles. Jy is die beste sussie in die wêreld. Lief jou verskriklik baie!**

* * *

Connor's POV

"There are two teams – blue and red. All you have to do is get the other team's flag to your side and your team wins. Three rules," Connor explains, raising his fingers one by one. "One, no maiming or killing. Two, the flag must be in clear sight at all times and three, only two campers are allowed to guard the flag."

Rachel nods that she understands. It was simple enough. He watches her from the corner of his eye and tries to notice every minute expression on her face. Usually, Connor was good with reading people. He had to be, since conning people involved picking a gullible mark. But this girl was a complete mystery.

She seems totally fine as she gapes at all the strange sights at camp, but he couldn't help but feel a sense of underlining anxiety beneath her cool demeanour. The fierce, hard look in her eyes was one you wouldn't expect in a girl with her looks.

Gods, she was gorgeous! He has his fingers crossed that she isn't a daughter of Hermes. He bets he isn't the only one hoping something along those lines.

"Today it's Athena against Apollo. Athena or Hermes usually wins but Apollo and Ares are always yapping at our heels. We always team up with Athena when possible since they are the only ones who can truly utilise all of our skills. Also, since Annabeth and Percy are dating, there's always an alliance with Poseidon." Travis tells her with a sly smile.

She frowns. "And that's good, why?"

"How much do you know about Greek mythology?" Connor asks, sensing the answer.

"Only what I've heard today and that Hades is your version of Hell, right?"

Travis shakes his head. "Technically, Hades is the god of hell, but close enough."

Rachel growls softly in frustration. If they weren't walking so close to her, the brothers wouldn't even have noticed it. It was just a slight curl of the upper lip and an exhale, but she was frustrated nevertheless. She was clearly a fast learner, Annabeth's search confirmed it, but she was struggling to remember everything, as well as believing it all.

"Anyway, to answer your question, the most powerful three gods are Zeus, god of the sky, Poseidon god of the sea, and Hades, god of the underworld. Following?" Rachel nods and Travis continues. "Well, their children are extremely powerful. Word War II was a result of the conflict between them. Then there was some scary prophecy about the end of the world and they sorta made an oath to not have any more kids, but Percy was born and _saved_ the world after a war two months ago. There's also Thalia, a daughter of Zeus and Nico, a son of Hades. Nico-"

"He can control the dead." Connor interjects, allowing Travis to catch his breath. He nods seriously at the wide-eyed Rachel. A muscle above her left eyebrow twitches but she keeps her face otherwise neutral.

"-has a long, complicated story but he's actually much older than he looks." It was obvious that Travis had more to say and Rachel was burning to ask more questions, but they had arrived where the teams were gathering.

Annabeth must have been very distracted or she has a really good plan, because the blue team looks kind of small. It was Athena, Hermes, Hecate, Poseidon, Tyche and Nike against everyone else. The Poseidon, Tyche and Nike cabins contained 1, 2 and 4 campers respectively. The Hermes cabin was large and Hecate and Athena medium sized, but together the whole blue team was only as big as the Apollo and Ares campers alone. Then there was still Hephaestus, Demeter, Aphrodite, Dionysus, Nemesis, Hypnos and Isis as well. The odds didn't look too good for blue, even if they had Lady Luck and Victory on their side. Annabeth did look a little flustered.

Chiron gives a quick rundown of the rules, wishes us luck and the blue team heads to Zeus's Fist in their part of the forest.

"Okay," Annabeth starts, immediately capturing everybody's attention. "For the past three games I have been using the same tactic – big group centre and two smaller units in flank – so they'll expect something along those lines." She gestures with her hands as she speaks. "Poseidon and Athena have centre. Hermes divides into two groups and to the flanks. Nike and Hecate spread out between those three groups."

Her piercing eyes scan the group of children in front of her, assessing weaknesses and strengths automatically, as natural to her as breathing is to others. "Travis, you're the fastest. You and I will be heads of the stealth units. A Tyche camper with each of us. We'll slip in between the three main groups and past their defences. Whichever one of us gets the flag first, hightails to the creek as fast as possible."

She turns to Hecate and asks. "Can you place a glamour on us to make us look like one of the enemy campers?"

They shake their heads in unison. "Sorry, only Lou Ellen would be able to do that in such a short amount of time. It's her specialty, but she had a personal emergency back with her dad."

Annabeth's eyes flicker for a moment, before returning to their usual expression of steely determination. "Fine. Then create a clone illusion to take the enemy by surprise." She raises an eyebrow enquiringly. "You can do that at least, right?"

Lou Ellen's second in command huffs with annoyance, nods and stalks off with her cabin to prepare.

Annabeth smirks slightly with a haughty expression on her face. Athena's children are notorious for their manipulative skills, but even if you are aware to watch out, they always take you by surprise.

"Who's guarding the flag?" Percy asks, twisting his wrists and swishing Riptide around to warm up.

A spark, an idea, lights up her eyes, as they rest on Rachel. "Connor and Rachel are on defence." She announces with conviction. Several of her siblings look sceptical but they would never dare challenge her authority in such a situation. She wasn't head counsellor for nothing.

Everybody spreads out into their respective groups. The Hecate cabin had quadrupled their numbers and even though the illusions couldn't hurt a fly, the enemy would definitely pause at the sight.

The horn blows in the distance, signalling the start of the games. "For Victory!" The four Nike campers called on their mother's blessing and a cheer sounds up from the blue team. The three teams set off, leaving six campers behind.

Annabeth waits until the clashing of metal echoes through the forest. She and Travis go their separate ways, Luck running by their sides.

"What happens now?" Rachel asks. Her knuckles were white as she clutches her sword. She looks tense and irritated as if she hates being left behind. Understandable, since Connor also loathed missing out on all of the fun.

He sighs. "Now? Now we wait." _Easier said than done_, he thinks to himself, as he quickly sends a little prayer up to Hermes to bless the feet of his brother.

The seconds drags by and Rachel paces anxiously up and down. A sheen of sweat covers her forehead. "So, how does it feel to have a twin?" She asks, trying to kill some time.

Connor smirks. It was a common mistake that most people made. He and Travis loved exploiting it as well. "We're actually not twins, just half-brothers. Travis is older than me." He tells her, watching the look of surprise on her face with amusement.

"Oh," she says.

He turns back to the forest, searching for any sign of the enemy. An explosion shakes the ground, signalling that the Hephaestus campers were getting serious. A plume of green fire shoots up into the air and dryads scream in protest. A wave rises up above the trees, dousing everything on the enemy's side in water. Silence reigns for a few anxious seconds.

Suddenly, Rachel's head whips around to the southeast and her eyes narrow with suspicion. "Over there," she whispers, nodding her head towards a large bush. Connor squints, but doesn't see anything.

"Come on out! We know you're there!" Rachel calls her challenge, her voice filled with absolute confidence. A bird's cry sounds from somewhere above.

Then the bush rustles and Drew and Butch step out. The air around them shimmers slightly as the camouflage Butch had made with his power over colour, fades away.

"Shut up and don't move," Drew commands. Her voice ripples through the air, a sickly-sweet, mesmerising sound. Before Connor could shout a warning, both were trapped in Drew's power.

She smiles slyly at them. "Throw away your weapons." She demands, enforcing her voice with charmspeak once again.

Rachel's sword clatters onto the ground without any hesitation. She probably had no idea that she was even being controlled, never mind have a defence against it.

Connor, on the other hand, knew about Drew's ability and had prepared for the possibility a long time ago. He was smart, smarter than most people knew, but he was also cunning and the Hermes cabin's greatest weapon was their façade of incompetence concerning strategy. People always underestimate them.

Whilst Drew and Butch were distracted by the dagger in his left hand, they didn't notice the yo-yo he was clutching in his right. He opens his left fist, letting the dagger fall.

Quicker than the eye can see, his right hand flicks, extending the yo-yo's string, and throws it. His aim was sure and true, and the seemingly insignificant toy became an invaluable weapon. The yo-yo spins out and wraps itself around Drew's legs.

Her eyes widen and her mouth forms a surprised O, but she didn't have time to let out a sound before she fall backwards, into the dust. Her breath leaves her with a barely audible, "Oomph."

Butch reacts instantly and rushes at Connor, punching him in the face. Connor sees stars and sinks to his knees as the world sways and tilts around him. He clutches at his throbbing head and groans.

Butch didn't even consider Rachel as a threat because he immediately heads for the blue flag planted in Zeus's fist. Big mistake.

Like a crazed Minotaur, Rachel lowers her head and tackles Butch from behind. They roll around a few times, struggling for control. Sand and grass fly in every direction. Rachel is tall and strong for a girl, but she's no match for the gigantic son of Iris. His name is Butch, for crying out loud!

After a brief struggle, he had both of her hands pinned above her head and his one knee firmly pressed against her stomach. Connor staggers up to try and come to her aid, but he's too dizzy. He can see the whites of her eyes clearly as they stare up at the giant, filled with innocent fear.

He curses a long string of Greek words that, even in his concussive state, makes no sense at all. He's angry at himself for failing to protect her. He is angry at Annabeth for putting an untrained camper on guard duty. Most of all, he is angry at Butch who was sitting on Rachel in a very inappropriate position.

"Hey! Geht ov hehr you pehrvehrt!" Connor slurs and crawls a few centimetres forward. Butch shoots him a distracted glare. Taking her chance with a triumphant yell, Rachel brings up her leg. Making his own weight count against him, she kicks Butch over her head.

Using her hands as a springboard, she does an elegant kip up. Butch quickly stands up. She caught him by surprise, but hadn't even made a blip on his ouch-scale. He picks up his sword and with a lazy grin, gestures for her to do the same. Rachel walks over to the xiphos where she had dropped it earlier and picks it up as if it might bite.

Connor groans when she grips it like a kitchen knife. Butch's smile widens, sensing an easy fight. And suddenly it dawns on Connor. It made complete sense. The way she acted, did things, looked… it was all just a front to fool people. Connor grins even though a flash of pain lances through his face at the motion. She was a true warrior, a true Greek. She was acting out one of the oldest tricks in the book – a Trojan horse.

Rachel flinches slightly as Butch steps forward. He doesn't see the way she lightly fingers the blade in her hand or the way she expertly measures the distance with her eyes. He only sees an easy win for the Iris cabin.

Another step forward. And another. If she were any other camper, she would have automatically responded to his movements and they would have circled each other looking for an opening. She had amazing control and restraint, and didn't move a muscle. Her body was wide open for attack but Connor knew that she had something up her sleeve. He just knew it.

The dizziness was gone, leaving only a dull throb of pain, but he didn't intervene. Rachel was putting on a show and who was he to deprive her of an appreciating audience?

There is a subtle shift in weight and then Butch lunges at her with a wild attack. His sword sweeps in front of him in a wide arc. Rachel ducks quickly and changes her grip on her sword. Reverse grip, not the one Connor showed her for the xiphos.

Butch stumbles slightly when he slashes at nothing but air and quickly regains his balance. He spins around to attack Rachel, but was met with a flurry of short jabs and slices. She had no style. None. Her fighting seems completely instinctual, almost animalistic. Her teeth were gritted and loose pieces of blonde hair clings to her neck. Her eyes radiate with pure joy. It was terrifying.

She feigns right and Butch, clearly not used to so much exercise, sluggishly moves to block her sword. Their swords meet with a flurry of sparks and Connor frowns, because he could have sworn it was supposed to be trick.

Her left hand comes up and hooks Butch under the chin. His head whips back and he hits the ground hard. Rachel pants and smiles proudly for a second before Drew attaches herself to Rachel's legs. Connor looks on in surprise. He was so engrossed by the fight, that he hadn't noticed Drew slowly creeping up on them. He had nothing to worry about, though.

With a sickening thud, Rachel's foot connects with Drew's face and the audible crunch of cartilage could be heard. Drew's barely-healed nose stood at an odd angle. Muffled squawks come from behind her hands as she clutches at her face and rolls around in pain.

With a loud roar, half a dozen Ares campers storm out of the forest and charge at her. Connor could simply stare, horrified at her brutality and mesmerised by it at the same time.

Her pretty blue eyes were glazed over with adrenaline and she moves like a seasoned veteran. _Who is she?_ He wonders.

The Ares campers were well matched against her, but even they were surprised by her frenzied fierceness. She barely uses her sword, only blocking enemy attacks with it. She prefers using her bare hands, punching and kicking anything that came too close. The enemy quickly realizes that they weren't going to be able to get to her one by one, so they encircle her and attack from every side. She bobs and weaves in a blur, dodging their attacks and causing them to collide into each other.

Sherman stands just outside of the circle of attackers, waiting for the right moment. He sees a gap and takes it, raising his sword to-

A bird appears from out of the blue, talons wide, aiming straight for his face. Sherman screams as the bird hooks its talons into his cheek. The boy waves his arms wildly, desperately trying to get the bird off of him. The bird flaps its wings but it seems to be stuck. A snap sounds as Sherman's hand connects with the bird's wing.

"Tobias!" Rachel shouts shrilly, real fear in her eyes.

With renewed energy, she disposes of the remaining Ares children, leaving them in crumpled heaps wherever she goes. She hits Sherman in the back of the head with the hilt of her sword, the first time she actually uses the thing, and he unceremoniously falls to the ground.

Rachel immediately checks on the bird, which has a chunk of Sherman's cheek clutched in one of his talons and a broken wing. "Tobias, are you okay?" She whispers to it and walks away without a second glance at the chaos she created. Connor watches as she disappears into the woods, the bird held delicately in her hands.

He is just about to go after her, when the horn sounds once again. Blue wins.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Chapter is dedicated to Marcus S. Lazarus for the review, ideas and well, being very, ****_very_**** observant. As always, thank you to Elements1999. Yes, Son of Zeus0001, Rachel is pretty badass! **

**Marie Arlang provided the French. Rachel always seemed like an overachiever. **

**So, this is an unusually quick update. I might be overly enthusiastic or trying to avoid studying Biology, but oh well, enjoy! **

* * *

My name is Tobias

My wing snaps and the pain reverberates through my body.

"Tobias!" I hear Rachel yell, before the world takes a dive. I land on my back in the dust, the boy I had been attacking unconscious. Like an avenging angel, Rachel stands above me, the sun creating a halo of light.

"Tobias, are you okay?" She asks softly and stoops down to pick me up. I wince as she accidently jars my wing.

{My right wing is broken. I need to morph.} I say and she carries me into the woods, away from prying eyes.

The sound of the horn makes her smile slightly. "Well, at least we won," she comments, before putting me on the ground and stepping back to watch me morph. I decide on the owl again, since the similarities in physiology would take less time. Rachel snorts when she sees the owl emerge. "I thought you hated owls?" She asks with chuckle.

I glare at her, but I knew it didn't look half as intimidating as my hawk eyes. {I don't hate them, I just have a strong dislike towards them.} I tell her with a tad of superiority inching its way into my voice. She smiles knowingly and watch as my skull and eyes shrink back to their normal size. I ruffle my feathers, testing my repaired wing. {Tada! Good as new.} I announce and launch myself into the sky.

"By the way, thanks for saving my butt back there." She says and starts walking back to where we came from.

{Meh, it was nothing. That's what boyfriends do.} I throw in casually.

She stiffens, then turns her head to the side. She looks at me demurely from beneath her lashes. "So, it's official?" She doesn't wait for an answer but starts laughing. Laughter bubbles from somewhere deep inside. The effects of adrenaline wearing off and the stress from the past few days made the laughter border on something hysterical. There was also the sound of profound relief within it and if I could smile, I would have. She was mine.

I flutter down to her shoulder. "They'll see you. You should go." She tells me as the giggles fade.

She starts walking again. I could hear cheering up ahead. {Nah, you can tell them you're a hawk trainer or something.} Even though the idea of people thinking I'm a pet made my stomach queasy, it was the only way that I would be allowed to stay with her continuously.

When she steps out from the trees, the shouting stops. A wave of silence rolls over the crowd. They stare at her strangely. Rachel grins at them, her back straight, the picture of confidence. Only I could hear the way her breathing quickened.

Suddenly, a golden head breaks from the crowd and rushes to her. "Rachel!" Connor shouts happily and throws his arms around her. With a shriek, I barely manage to avoid another possibly fatal blow. His enthusiasm was dangerous. "We won! And it's all because of you!" Annabeth (who's plan it was) and Travis (who was clutching the red flag) looked a little miffed at the statement, but congratulated her with a smile.

Rachel subtly pried Connors arms away from her. "Umh, yeah, thanks… you helped a lot too." She says and eyes the huge bump on his head warily. "You should probably get that checked out." Connors laughs a little deliriously and then collapses on the spot with a small sigh.

"Medic!" Travis yells, rushing to his brother's side and Chiron gallops towards them.

Rachel lifts up her arm and nods in my direction. I circle once more, before landing on it and made sure not to grip too tightly.

"So, that's what happened to Sherman's face." Annabeth steps forward with a smile. "A red-tailed hawk, right?"

Rachel nods and strokes the feathers on my chest. "Yes, his name's Tobias." She tells her.

"Alright, everybody who needs medical attention head to the Big House, as well as all the Apollo campers. Congratulations to the Hermes cabin for winning; the showers are yours." Chiron announces, before slinging Connor over his back and trotting away.

{So, that's the prize.} I comment to Rachel, as the Hermes campers cheer and everybody else groans. I had been wondering about that.

Rachel walks to her temporary sleeping place and retrieves the toiletries Connor had 'acquired' for her. While she's otherwise occupied, I make a rounds of the camp. Every time I fly over it, I see something new. That flash of gold when I had arrived, had been _the _Golden Fleece of legend. What was even more amazing was the dragon guarding it. An actual dragon, curled around a tree!

The woods were filled with endless supplies of food, so lunch wasn't that hard to find. I also saw what looked to be a giant scorpion, girls living in the lake and a rock that moved. The scariest thing was the giant termites. Now _those_ brought back some disturbing memories. Majestic winged horses occupied a stable and wandered around the camp. I was itching to try and morph one of them, but I wasn't sure if they had mystical DNA or something.

After all of the kids had showered they moved eagerly towards the dining pavilion. Torches burned with green flames that produced no smoke. Pillars surrounded a bunch of tables and girls with green tinted skin walked among them, placing assorted fruits and vegetables on the tables. There was also barbeque and fresh bread. No junk food.

The Hermes cabin arrived first and took their seats. Rachel looks like she belongs with an orange t-shirt like all of the other kids. It had a picture of a Pegasus on it and some characters scribbled beneath. The kids piled their plates high with only the best produce available. Then, they all stood up, walked to the centre where a fire was burning and threw some of their food into the flames, muttering something under their breaths. Rachel stared at them, mouth wide open.

{Just go with it. At least you don't have to slaughter a goat as a sacrifice.} I joke, earning a fierce glare.

Connor stands up and gestures for her to follow him. "We burn a little bit of the food for the gods. Apparently, they like the smell." He confides and scrapes a rack of ribs into the flames. The food sizzles and smoke rises into the air. Rachel looks like she wants to protest, but throws a handful of red grapes into the fire. "To whom it may concern." She mutters with a strange look. I chuckle as she rushes back to her seat. She daintily picks at a pomegranate, but I can see that she has no appetite.

As more and more children arrive, the sound of chattering voices rise. There's a clear division between the campers. Every camper sits with their siblings. It puzzles me.

The Ares' kids looks peeved and glare at the Hermes table menacingly. It must be a normal sight because nobody bothers to stare back at them. The Athena cabin has more books than food at their table and blueprints of intricate buildings and statues are spread out between them.

Rachel was staring intently at her food, when suddenly a boy with bright green eyes and blonde hair taps her on the shoulder. "Tu es magnifique." He says and blushes.

"Merci beaucoup." Rachel replies with a friendly smile. The boy gets even redder and rushes to Connor.

"Ten Drachma on Aphrodite." He says and hands a small bag over to the son of Hermes. Connor accepts it with a grin and Travis scribbles something in a notebook. The boy walks away with a one last look at Rachel.

"So, you speak French?" Connor asks, ignoring Rachel's glare.

"French, German and now, surprisingly Greek, but what has that got to do with the fact that you're betting on who the hell my dad or mom might be?" She is seething.

Connor has the decency to look a tiny bit embarrassed. "Chill, Rachel, it's a longstanding tradition. It's got nothing to do with you specifically, it happens with all the new campers."

Rachel huffs in annoyance but asks curiously, "Who has the most bets?"

"Aphrodite," Travis grins. "Only some of the kids know about what Annabeth said at the meeting. We also have bets for Hermes, Apollo and one idiot even said Zeus, as if the guy would make that mistake again! But hey, idiot money is still money."

Rachel decides to ignore the brothers and their schemes. {Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty, you should take it as a compliment.} I tell her and she simply rolls her eyes in response. Her looks has never been very high on her priority list.

She frowns slightly when she spots Percy sitting all alone at a table. Rachel excuses herself from her table and heads over to where he was picking at a chicken wing and staring at Annabeth, who was drawing an extremely intricate statue of woman with a horn filled with food in her arms.

"Mind if I sit?" Rachel asks him and takes a seat without waiting for an answer. She seems oblivious to the countless eyes on them.

"Ugh, no, I don't mind, but it's kind of against the rules." Percy tells her in a whisper, his eyes darting towards Chiron, who wore a frown.

Rachel scrunches up her nose. "Great, another dumb rule that I'm totally going to ignore." She announces loudly so that everybody could clearly hear it. That's my rebel.

Percy gives her a startled grin. "You might get in trouble." He tells her, but it was evident that he didn't care at all. He definitely didn't strike me as the type of guy that would worry about the law, never mind simple camp rules.

"What kind of trouble?" Rachel asks, widening her eyes in mock terror.

"No dessert."

"Dammit!" She swears and he laughs out loud. I spread my wings and glide onto the table. They were getting way to comfortable for my taste. I scowl at her but since a fierce glare is the only expression for a hawk, it's doubtful that she even noticed.

Rachel gives me a knowing smirk, before returning her attention to Percy. He was staring wide-eyed at me as if he has never seen a bird. It was very annoying.

"Did you hear about the explosion about five kilometres from the border?" I overhear Malcolm ask Annabeth at the Athena table. She nods her head mutely, her eyes darting to Percy every now and then.

"Apparently it was a couple of campers with a gas leak." She replies, before turning back to her work and adding a gecko curling around the statue's left leg. My heart starts beating again.

After everybody has eaten, all of the kids disperse. The Hermes cabin went to the archery range to practise their skill with the bow. Chiron helps Rachel to string a bow and shows her the basics. I watch from a perch to the side of the arena. A few tries later and she hits the target. After about an hour of shooting, she manages to hit the bull's-eye and didn't miss it again. Connor is clearly getting very attached to her and all of the other males in the arena vie for her attention. Jealousy is a nasty little creature jumping around in my stomach.

Then it was singsongs in the amphitheatre and I was absolutely fascinated by the bonfire changing colour and size. It was beautiful. It was also good to know that I wasn't actually seeing things the night before. I could see that Rachel wasn't really enjoying herself, even though the songs were hilarious. The Apollo kids weren't half bad, but she was never one for school spirit and stuff. Saving the world was more her thing.

At about eight o'clock everyone started wandering back to their cabins. One of the unoccupied cabins glowed an ethereal silver. I find a tree near the Hermes cabin to roost in for the night and watch as one by one, the lights dimmed of every cabin. The silence was creepy. Well, not really silence, since the most unearthly and terrifying sounds came from the forest. Bellows and growls and yelps that made my blood run cold. I was just drifting off when I saw a dark figure tiptoeing between the cabins. I identify the shadow as Rachel as soon as she passes the luminescent cabin.

{Where are you going?} I ask and she jumps slightly. I fly towards her and she starts running. Not away, just running for the sake of it. I know she does it sometimes when she can't sleep, so I silently follow her to make sure she doesn't encounter any harpies on the way to wherever. Apparently the harpies ate you if you're out of bed past curfew. Sheesh, wasn't this supposed to be a safe place for demigods?

We end up on the beach and she promptly sits down on the sand. The ocean reaches out with long watery fingers and just-just manages to touch her toes. In the bright moonlight it is easy to see the tears glittering on Rachel's cheeks. Her face is completely devoid of any emotion as she stares at the sea.

I land on the sand next to her and morph human. The cool sea breeze makes me shiver when my feathers disappear.

"I don't want this."

With my weak human hearing, I barely hear her whisper. Rachel wasn't the type to talk about feelings. She keeps them all bundled up inside, because she's supposed to be the fearless warrior. Cassie was the only one who could really get under that shell. Even sharing them with me, was rare for her. I knew enough to not push or talk. I simply sit as close as I can.

"I don't want any of this," She says again, louder than the last time. "This means that one of my parents isn't actually my parents. Sure, they're divorced but I've always believed that they love me." My tongue burns. I want to deny it, but I knew that if I interrupt her, the moment will shatter.

"This means that I now have two half-sisters at home and who knows how many here. Apparently I have thousands of cousins, but the one that means the most to me is most likely not family anymore." A tear drop glistens as it rolls down her cheek and drips from her chin. It's quickly soaked up by the sand.

She sniffs lightly. "You know this will mean more fighting, more dangers, more monsters attacking me. Not just the Yeerks but a whole bunch of mythical monster will be trying to kill me and by association, you guys too. I'm going to get us all killed." Her voice breaks and she pulls her knees up to her chest. Shingle and powdery dust cling to her legs.

Her shoulders shake lightly as all of the days stress and worry and fear finally come crashing down on her head. With a sigh I place my arm around her and pull her closer. Not the most comfortable of hugs, but I didn't complain.

"It's fine, I was getting bored." I tell her with a nonchalant tone. I didn't know what I wanted to achieve, but Rachel immediately starts choking. _Smooth, Tobias_, I think and lightly pat her on the back, before I realize it was more of a chortle than a choke. Taking it as a good sign, I dive back in. "Your parents do you love you. And you're lucky; not many people can say that they have two families. Although, Jake will probably be grateful when he finds out that you're technically not related to him. He feels devastated whenever you do so much better than him in school."

She snorts and wipes her face with the back of her hand. Rachel turns to me, her eyes scorching. "And just as I thought our relationship couldn't get any more complicated," She hints. "Or weirder." She adds.

A demigod and a half-alien (or is it quarter?), hawk... Doesn't sound that weird, does it? "Hey, it's like a classical myth now!" I exclaim in defence.

"The demigod and the hawk?" She asks, her voice dripping with sarcasm. She gives me a look that clearly questions my sanity.

I shrug slightly. "The Greeks absolutely loved their myths where gods fell in love with animals." She lifts an eyebrow in disbelief. "Weird, I know, but they were usually under some sort of spell or curse." I confide.

"Well then, seems that our story is perfectly ordinary, cliché even." Another sardonic comment.

"No, our story is one of a kind. I've always hated cliché's." I tell her, recalling all of the weird myths I've read over the years. When I was ten, I went through a Greek Mythology phase. I remember the Cyclops and Nobody, how Pegasus came into being, Arion and the weirdness that was the Minotaur. Creepy stuff… "Hmmh, now that I think about it, it is quite cliché. Beauty and the Beast."

She lets out a self-depreciating laugh. "If it makes you feel any better, the guy is usually the beast." I sigh inwardly. I was getting nowhere. Talking has never been one of my strongest suits. We sit in silence, watching the waves rush onto the sand and then drag back. A never-ending cycle.

"Thanks, Tobias." She says, breaking me from my reverie. "It means a lot, but I think I'm going home tomorrow. Annabeth said that if I wanted to, she'll show me some basic moves with a sword and a few monsters to look out for and then I can be on my way. Wouldn't want Jake to worry." I couldn't blame her for her choice.

We simply enjoy the warmth of being in one another's company, until I have to demorph. I accompany her back to her cabin, before settling in for the night.

I don't remember sleeping, but then again birds don't really do the normal _sleep_ thing. I remember confusing flashes of jumbled memories. The construction site has become the usual premises for most of my nightmares, but that night I dreamt of the most recent catalyst – the helicopter crash.

_Gripping the controls with my weak human fingers. The sounds of Rachel trying to keep the stowaway Hork-Bajir from decapitating me. {You fly every day, Tobias, a helicopter can't be that different.} The sickly yellow glow emitting from the bomb as the numbers decline steadily. Pain slicing through my body as I try to jump from the helicopter with a Hork-Bajir hacking at an enraged bear. The explosion of light imprinted onto the back of my eyelids…_

_…_

The brightness of the silver cabin fades at dawn and the Apollo cabin begins to shine. Artemis, I realize, but why on earth she'd need a cabin was beyond me. Then again, I also thought that Athena was a virgin, and here comes the living proof that I'm wrong.

Annabeth marches up to the Hermes cabin and knocks loudly on the door. A disgruntled looking Travis opens up and calls for Rachel as soon as he sees who it is.

Rachel's still wearing her outfit of yesterday, but seeing as it is her only outfit nobody takes any notice. Her hair is in a French braid that curls around her neck.

"What did you decide?" Annabeth asks, just as I land on Rachel's shoulder.

"I'd like to go home as soon as possible. I'm grateful for all of the help and I'd appreciate some tips with the sword, but I don't want my mom to worry." She tells Annabeth who nods as if she had predicted it.

"I'll show you some basic moves, give you some supplies and then Argus can drive you home. Let's do it before breakfast." Annabeth unsheathes her dagger. "Lesson number one: Always have your weapon with you." Rachel grins.

Sensing that I might not be in the safest position, I fly back up into a tree. Rachel runs back into the cabin to get her sword. Annabeth shows her a few ways to block and parry to start. The whole Hermes cabin comes out to watch, as well as some of the other campers. Clearly, they didn't have anything better to do. After a minute or two, Annabeth calls Connor to have a mock fight with Rachel.

"En garde, you lousy head lice!" He yells and takes up a defensive stance. A snicker ripples through the crowd and Rachel cocks her head to the side, a look of utter confusion on her face.

Connor sighs. "I'm starting the fight with an ancient tactic, that of insultery. It is used to anger your opponent and goad him or her into making mistakes." He explains patiently. Then, faster than I could blink, he swings his sword in a downward arc, nearly taking Rachel's head off. Pure instinct and no small amount of experience saves her. Her sword flashes up and she barely manages to block his weapon.

"Well done on saving your head," Connor comments. "But you left your side wide open." He pokes a small dagger into her ribcage. "Dead," he announces. Rachel growls under her breath in frustration. She hates losing.

{Just focus, Rachel. I know you can do it. Think of the swords as Hork-Bajir blades.} I tell her and she nods subtly in response. Connor is about to fight her again, when the mean looking Ares counsellor steps forward.

"Wait," she says with a menacing voice. "I want a try at the newbie. My whole cabin is complaining over a so-called 'invincible' fighter, but by the looks of it she couldn't hurt a flower." Great, a bully. The one thing that Rachel hates almost as much as the Yeerks.

Annabeth didn't move to stop the girl that looked like she could crush a boulder with her bare hands. "Clarisse, try not to kill her," One of the Hermes campers says with a sigh. He must be her boyfriend, because that's the only reason how he could have the guts to say anything.

"Sure, Chris, I'll try my very best." Clarisse says with a predatory grin. She looks like a walking arsenal. Knives, daggers and grenades hung from several straps and her spear crackled with electricity. Rachel warily stepped away from her opponent.

Where the Hermes children were all speed and agility, this girl was pure, undiluted strength. Clarisse jabbed with her spear and Rachel dodged it. Clarisse tried again, but this time when Rachel tried to avoid being skewered, she was backhanded across the face. The force of the hit spun Rachel around and she hits the ground like a sack of potatoes.

Without a second thought, I shriek and dive at the crazy girl. She swings the spear around and it barely brushes me, but the incredible amount of electricity coursing through the weapon was enough to seize up all of my muscles.

"Bitch!" Rachel shouts and throws sand in Clarisse's eyes. Clarisse drops her spear and rubs at her eyes. Rachel takes her chance and charges. Clearly, Clarisse is used to fighting dirty because she recovers unimaginably quick. She draws her sword from its scabbard and blocks Rachel's wild attack, easily. Rachel quickly tries to backpedal, but isn't fast enough to miss Clarisse's sword. A long, shallow cut appears across her cheek and in trying to dodge, she falls onto her back. The campers cheer, especially the Ares cabin. First blood had been drawn.

"Well, my siblings must truly be a pathetic lot if they got beaten by a pixie and a chicken." Clarisse sneers and spits on the ground. She picks up her spear and looms over Rachel threateningly. Rachel lifts her chin defiantly. "Say goodnight, Pixie."

Clarisse pulls back her spear with a cruel smile, when all of a sudden a snarl echoes through camp. A streak of grey blurs past the children and latches unto Clarisse's arm. A scream rips from her throat and bloodcurdling howls answer it.

"Oh, shit." Rachel swears at the sight of the three wolves.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: This one's for Son of Zeus0001, for the little shove back towards my computer. You wouldn't believe how much I struggled with this chapter, but here you go. I started typing... and this happened, so... yeah... sorry if Cassie and Ax seems a little OOC. **

**As always, thanks, Elements1999! **

**Welcome to 1hellyeahz1, Brainiac2000, Cyberbeta, KoolKat SuperStar DareDevil, PyroRocker, SeanHicks4 and Slenderbrine who reviewed, followed or favourited. **

**Thanks for the review Jouaint, superpony55 and Matt.**

**In other news, I went from a C to a B in English! Enjoy!**

* * *

My name is Cassie.

It was a beautiful day. The sky was bright blue with tinges of pink and oranges still lining the horizon. The air was refreshingly cool.

I was flying - one of the best feelings in existence - yet it felt as if my innards were twisted into a tight knot. If it had been up to me, we would have rushed to Rachel as soon as she called Jake, but since he gave her a day, we had to wait. I couldn't find a logical argument against that, so after hours and hours of absolute torture we were finally on our way to save my best friend and Tobias.

{The Chee couldn't find any mention of a camp in this area.} Jake told us. {Actually, they only found a reference to a Strawberry Farm.} In his peregrine falcon morph, he sped forward, far ahead of the rest of us. Marco and I, as ospreys, flew together and Ax, in Northern Harrier morph, was a bit to the right.

{So, best case: tree-hugging fruit farmers kidnapped Rachel.} Marco stated. {Or worst-case scenario: the Yeerks are using genetically modified strawberries to brainwash people into being obedient slaves.}

There was a pause. {Well, that escalated quickly.} Jake commented dryly at Marco's cynical outlook on life.

{What's scary is the fact that both of those options are completely realistic in our screwed up lives.) Marco continued. For a moment of silence, we all contemplated the sadness that was our '_screwed up lives'_, as Marco so eloquently put it.

{And this is why we need Rachel back. Her motivational speeches were much more inspirational.} I told him as my weak try at lightening the sombre mood. Ugh, Rachel always made bantering look so easy.

Marco snorted. {Cassie, two words aren't inspirational. They're more like an omen for another close encounter with Death.} That was not that far from the truth…

{I apologise for interrupting your attempts at humour, but we only have 8% of the time limit left.} Ax supplied in his usual monotone.

Marco spluttered and Jake sighed. I think he missed Tobias and his ability to keep the group from snapping at each other's throats. {Thanks, Ax. We're close enough, I guess.} Jake said and angled his body down. We were currently over a dense forest, near the north shore of the island.

{Whee!} Marco shouted with glee as he started to dive. I followed, scanning the area with my sharp eyes for any sign of people. The woods seemed undisturbed, but there were a few open fields that looked like perfect camping spots. A creek cut through the middle of the forest and flowed out to sea. {I can't see any strawberries.} Marco commented, echoing my exact thoughts.

It puzzled me, since the Chee were not usually wrong. Them being wrong two times in a row was a disturbing thought. Before I could ponder on the issue any further, a slight pressure started building behind my eyes. I had just enough time to think _Ow_, when the pressure turned into a full force migraine. Black spots danced in front of my eyes and it felt as if a porcupine was attacking my lungs.

I flapped my wings in the hope that it would get me to the ground where I could either demorph or faint in peace, but it was like trying to move through sticky syrup. My movements were lethargic and slow, that is if I was moving at all. A giant fist clenched around my heart. _I'm going to die!_ The thought screamed through my mind. It felt as if I was being burnt from the inside out.

_Come on, Cassie. Focus!_

My ears popped and without warning, the invisible hand let me go. I was freefalling through the air, tumbling head-over-heels (wings-over-talons?) to the ground. I plummeted through the canopy of leaves and landed on the ground with a loud thud, probably breaking every bone in my body.

I laid on my back, dazed, and stared at the sky. Ooh, fluffy clouds. _Get a grip._

After filling my lungs with a shaky breath, I started to demorph and the pain melted away. I made sure that I morphed my organs and bones first, which resulted in me looking somewhat like an enormous chicken. With the last of my raptor's vision, I spotted Jake and Marco still hanging motionless, suspended by invisible bonds, in the middle of the air.

As if launched from a catapult, the osprey rocketed to the earth and was followed by Jake. I was still dizzy from my slingshot experience and morphing in record time, but stumbled towards their estimated landing (crashing) spot regardless of the fact that I bumped into every second tree. I spotted a streak of royal blue just ahead.

When I arrived in a small clearing, Jake was halfway demorphed and Marco sat in a heap, clutching his head. "So that's what being road kill feels like." He groans. Jake looked green.

{What happened?} Ax asked, concerned.

"You didn't feel it? The… force-field?' I asked, fishing for the right word to describe "barrier of extreme pain".

{No, I flew to the ground with no trouble and demorphed. Do you believe a force-field surrounds this location to keep certain species of bird out?}

"Yes, Ax. Someone has a fetish for Northern Harriers and built a force-field to keep this place free from the burden that is diversity." Marco might feel (and look) like he was just trampled by a herd of buffalo, but he could still dish out the sarcastic comments. Not that sarcasm had any real effect on Ax.

"It was some sort of barrier," I told Ax. Of the four of us, only Ax could move through without any resistance. Maybe… "Could it be that the Yeerks found out that we we're not Andalites and built it to keep humans out?" The thought made my blood run cold. If they knew, the war would change drastically. We would lose one of our only advantages.

{It is unlikely that the Yeerks have found a way to detect the morphing trail in such minute detail.} I felt as if there was a 'but' to that sentence but didn't pry. Andalite-pride and all that.

"So, strawberry farmers?" Marco asked, stood up like a man of ninety and hobbled to the edge of the clearing.

Jake looked to the sky for help, before sending a grin my way. Marco was an acquired taste, for sure. "We should get going. Wolves?" He asked and I nodded in confirmation. Wolves worked well with the terrain, had great stamina, were pretty decent in a fight and had an amazing sense of smell.

Jake craned his neck and called to Marco, who was staring wide-eyed at something deeper into the forest. Marco quickly stumbled back to us, shooting worried glances over his shoulder. "Guys, I just saw this massive termite. As in eat-Marco-for-breakfast massive!" He seemed genuinely terrified, which could mean his acting skills were far better than I knew or possibly a new species of alien.

Jake shuddered lightly, but treated the announcement like a joke. "Too soon, man. Too soon." Marco sneaked another glance behind him, before shaking his head with a hazy expression.

"Tobias, scout-" Jake started and cringed. I automatically looked up, searching for the familiar sight of a red-tailed hawk keeping watch. I felt a pang of sadness tear through my heart. Why do we only realise how much we need somebody when they're gone?

"Let's go." Jake's voice was reinforced with steel. We would save our team. Fur sprouted over his face and he fell forward onto his hands. Marco's nose bulged out and his ears rotated to the top of his head. Ax… his change was simply too bizarre to even start describing it. The first change for me was the elongation of my spine into a tail. After a few seconds, I started feeling the mind of the wolf pressing against my mental barriers. I expertly repressed the wolf mind. This was _my_ morph.

{This way.} Jake stated when we were all finished and turned his nose to the south. He loped to the front and the rest of us fell in behind him, according to pack dynamics. I ran forward and the wind whipped through my fur. The wolf was one of my favourite morphs.

After a few minutes of running at a constant pace, Marco's ears perked up. {Do you smell that?}

{Humans are nearby.} Ax confirmed and we slowed. Frankly, I had been trying to ignore everything that I could smell. Having a powerful sense of smell is not all it's cracked up to be. The forest was teeming with life and even the wolf was confused by all the unknown scents. We were definitely getting closer to people. Not just because of the smell, but also because footprints were scattered all over the forest floor.

All of a sudden, a loud TSEER! sounded from somewhere ahead. As if somebody had stomped on an internal brake, we all stopped in our tracks. {Maybe it was just a random bird.} Marco suggested, but we all knew the truth. The distinct sound was an all too familiar warning. There was no doubt.

{Tobias.} Ax said firmly and without another word, we sprang into motion with a chorus of howls.

At full speed, my heart was racing and adrenaline pumped even faster to every inch of my body. The prospects of a fight even seemed appealing for a second, before I determinedly buried the wolf's consciousness under a layer of my own mind. _Focus, Cassie. _Now was definitely not the time to lose control of my morph.

I could hear breathing, heartbeats, cheering – life. Then… a scent burned in my nostrils. The specific smell made the wolf fight even harder against my mental barriers and I was almost inclined to let it take over.

{Blood!} Marco exclaimed.

I could see bright light up ahead. {Ax, you stay behind and demorph. Assess the situation and attack when ready.} Jake barked a command.

{Yes, Prince Jake.} Ax acknowledged and fell back.

Jake, Marco and I broke through the clearing and something inside of me snapped. _Protect pack._ A brute holding a spear, stood over Rachel, ready to impale her. Without second thought, I launched myself forward and sunk my canines into the enemy's wrist.

The scent of fear thickened in the air and the wolf inside of my head wanted to howl with joy. Chaos erupted. My prey screamed hoarsely and tried to pry my jaw from her arm.

"Silver! Get silver!" A blonde alpha-female shouted a command.

"Cassie, no! Jake, stop! They're not the enemy." A familiar voice shouted, but all I could see was two of my pack members lying on the ground, bleeding. The taste of blood was in my mouth and for once, I didn't cringe in disgust.

Marco ploughed over several children and snarled at a black-haired boy who expertly continued to dodge his attacks. With a snarl, Marco charged again. With a swish of the boy's hands, ribbons of water rushed out of the nearby river and bound the wolf tightly. Marco whined and writhed but he was held tight.

A boy with light brown hair stood in front of Rachel, brandishing a glowing blade. "Stay behind me, Rachel." The boy told her. He had a wild look in his eyes. Jake circled him, trying to get to Rachel. "Stay back!" The boy shouted. Jake bunched his muscles and prepared to leap.

"Connor, don't!" Rachel exclaimed and shakily got to her feet. She shoved Connor out of the way, just in time, as Jake lunged for his jugular. Jake hit Rachel in the side and they sprawled onto the ground. Acting on instinct, Jake bit at her and with an incredible strength, Rachel flung Jake against a nearby cabin.

The girl whose hand was still stuck between my teeth, suddenly slammed me against the hard soil and every bit of oxygen left my lungs. A cold, metallic object pierced my front leg and I howled in pain. The girl was subsequently released and drew another long, thin blade. Before she was able to stab the weapon through my eye, Rachel was there yet again. "Clarisse!" She shouted and grabbed the blade with her bare hand. Blood dripped onto the dry ground as the two girls struggled.

"Archers!" The alpha-female ordered and immediately at least a dozen bows and arrows were aimed at me. Jake was still struggling to his paws and Marco was snapping furiously at the watery ropes that ensnared him.

I guess the panic of imminent death finally allowed me to suppress the wolf once again. I barely managed to dodge the first arrow, as the silver shaft sung through the air.

"No! Stop!" Rachel screamed, her voice rising with panic. Her blue eyes were wide with fear. She head-butted her opponent and staggered in front of me. "Stop!" She yelled and motioned with her open palms.

_SNAP!_

The sound rang out. Every single bow split into two pieces, as easily as if they were made from paper.

Startled, everyone's attention turned to Rachel. She was as surprised as any, staring at her hands in shock. Did she really do that?

All of a sudden, an ominous red glow appeared above her head. What…? A holographic spear hanging above her blonde hair, bathed her in its light.

"Awh, man! Fuck, no!" Clarisse groaned, but probably not from pain since her wrist was already halfway healed. She angrily took another swig from a small, metallic canteen.

"Traitor!" A girl came running from somewhere. She had pink glitter in her hair and shouted as she joined the crowd. "You _are_ a spy!" She lifted a tube of mascara and threw it at Rachel who caught it easily. No matter how a pathetic attempt the throw was, it served as a catalyst for action.

Jake bit into the green-eyed boy's leg, who still seemed to be controlling the water around Marco. Distracted by the wolf chomping on his leg, the boy loses concentration and Marco drops onto the ground with a splash.

A girl wielding a huge stump charged at me. She was quickly intercepted and disarmed by Rachel, but half a dozen more kids came at us.

{What's going on?} I asked Rachel, as we stood back-to-back around the still unconscious Tobias.

Rachel was a whirlwind of motion and she had clearly established a reputation already, since most of the campers seemed extremely wary to attack. "They're not with the Yeerks. Actually, they're family of mine." What the…?

{Regroup!} I shouted at the team. As one, both Marco and Jake abandoned their current opponents.

Marco gave a low growl and loped towards us. {Man, these kids are nuts!} He exclaimed in private thought-speech.

{You have a plan?} Jake demanded, but before he could reach us, an invisible force pushed him into the dirt. A red cap rolled to the ground and the alpha-female- no, blonde girl, blinked into existence. She had a fist knotted in Jake's fur and a knife pressed against his throat.

"Stand down and surrender, or your leader dies." She announced in a clear, calm voice. Her grey eyes flashed triumphantly.

"Annabeth, I can explain-" Rachel tried to protest but the boy with the sea-green eyes lifted his hands and summoned water from the river. He made a grabbing motion with his fists and the water mimicked his actions, reaching for us.

{Ax, get the guy with the freaky water-magic.} Marco said and immediately a blue furred flash, shot from its hiding place, halting the boy's hands in mid-air. Ax had his tailblade pressed firmly against the guy's throat.

{Would you look at that!} Marco crowed in open thought-speech. The children looked somewhat stunned by the sudden appearance of an alien and a strange voice ringing in their heads, before simply taking it in their stride. Behind me, I heard a ruffle of feathers, which meant Tobias was waking up.

"Let Percy go. Call off your blue centaur!" The girl ordered, but her eyes looked a bit more stormy – worried. Oh, the boy must be someone close to her.

{I am an Andalite and I am not theirs.} Great! Ax was offended. {Now, remove your weapon from my Prince to spare the life of your own.} He demanded, arrogance dripping from his voice. The boy's eyes were wide as he stared at the alien and he was fingering a pen in his left hand.

{What are you guys doing here?} Tobias asked weakly as he surfaced at last. He groaned. {Never mind. I sort of expected it sooner than later.} I glanced over my shoulder and saw him slowly flapping his wings to get airborne. He rose barely a meter but it's enough for him to land on Marco's back.

{Hey! I'm not a perch. Get off!} Marco protested. Why? Well, simply because he could.

{Oops, sorry. Wrong wolf.} Tobias commented unemotionally and added dryly, {Both of you are female, so it's an easy mistake to make.} Only silence came from Marco. Ha! No wonder I missed the guy.

Annabeth was still staring intently at Ax, although she seemed a bit confused as to where exactly to look, what with the two pairs of eyes. It was your typical stalemate … or maybe not 'typical'.

Rachel let out a nervous laugh as Annabeth turned her cool gaze on my best friend. The wavering sound was so unlike Rachel that it took me a second to realise it was actually coming from her. "Okay, people, let's all just stay calm and put our weapons away." She gestured to us. "These are my friends. We've been fighting an alien invasion for the past few years. Ax, over there, is one of the good aliens that help us." She looks pointedly at me. "If they could perhaps demorph, we could all go talk and explain everything like civilised people."

Marco sneaked a sidelong glance in her direction. Peace negotiations weren't usually her style. {Hit your head on a rock?} And then he chuckled at his own joke.

{I don't trust these people. Who are they?} Jake asked, as a low rumble reverberated through his throat.

Rachel scratched the back of her head. "Well, turns out they're family of mine, but they are definitely… not with the Yeerks." It was clear to hear the slight hesitation and even clearer to see if you knew her as well as I did. Her eyes betrayed her doubt, but she was genuinely worried for these newfound friends.

{Jake, demorph. Trust me.} Tobias said. He sounded a lot stronger, but several of his feathers were still smoking.

{Tobias…} Jake warned. He wasn't liking this at all. There were too many variables and unknowns.

For one of the longest seconds ever, nothing happened. Then the crunching of bones and squelching of organs became audible. Annabeth looked queasy as Jake's fur slurped back and his nose melted away like wax. I felt a twinge of respect for the girl since she didn't loosen her grip at all, even when Jake looked something akin to a deformed werewolf out of a cheap horror movie.

"Are you a spy?" Annabeth asked enunciating every single word clearly. She gingerly grasped the back of Jake's neck instead of fur.

Rachel shook her head. "No, I swear."

Unwavering grey met honest blue. Annabeth's hand clenched the dagger tighter and pressed it harder against Jake's throat… or tried to. Like magic, the knife simply slipped through Jake's head. I thought I would faint on the spot. A look of disbelief flashed across her face, but she composed herself insanely fast. With a deep breath, she seemed to come to a conclusion. She stood up, slipped the dagger into a tan thigh holster and held out her hand towards Jake. He rolled over onto his back and took it. The tension in the air relaxed by a fraction.

With the go-ahead from Jake, Ax immediately removed his blade from Percy's throat. He cantered over to us and Percy joined the rest of the children who were standing in a semi-circle around us.

"Travis, go get Chiron." A boy that looked exactly like the one that tried to protect Rachel, darted away in a golden blur. Annabeth turns to us again. "Can you all do that?" She asked and it seemed as if her eyes bore straight through my soul.

"Yes," Jake replied and we demorphed quickly. Several of the campers looked as if they wanted to be sick, but they weren't. It seemed like a boot camp or something; they were definitely made of some strong stuff. Even after years of morphing, I sometimes felt like throwing up just because of the sounds.

The noise of hooves pounding became loud and the campers sighed with relief. My mouth fell open at the sight of a centaur. An actual centaur!

"And who might you be?" The centaur asked as he paused in front of a group of scantily clad, sweaty kids. He lifted an eyebrow in genuine concern, but before Jake could say anything, Ax pushed to the front.

Ax placed his tailblade over his hearts and bowed his head, averting his main eyes. {Apologies, we did not mean to intrude in your fine Training Academy.} Ax gushed and sounded like a shy schoolgirl speaking to her crush.

{Ax-man, get a grip.} Marco scolded in private thought-speech.

{I am merely recognising his superiority. Clearly, he must be the leader of this establishment.} Ax replied and Marco frowned, looking slightly constipated.

"Umh, no, it's perfectly alright." Chiron said. Without taking his eyes off of the blue alien, he asked shakily. "Annabeth, dear, who are these people?"

Jake took his cue and jumped in. "Uh, sir, I'm Rachel's cousin and we're her friends. This is Ax," He waves his hand in Ax's general direction. "He's an alien. Is there somewhere we could talk a bit more privately?" He nodded at the crowds of gawking children.

"Ah, yes, but first things first." He gestures for Clarisse to come forward. The girl had a murderous glare etched onto her face. Chiron bent his body at the waist, mimicking Ax's bow, but it was aimed in Rachel's direction. "Hail, Rachel Berenson. Daughter of Ares, god of war." Like they had practiced it beforehand, all of the other campers bowed as well. Huh? I felt like a fish out of water.

"Welcome to Cabin 5, Pixie." Clarisse said with the same tone of voice you would expect from someone issuing a death warrant. I didn't have a clue what was going on, but Rachel looked absolutely horrified.

"Do you have a tent?" Rachel asked, her voice hoarse. "'Cause there is no way in hell that I'm sleeping in _that_ place." Several of the kids snickered in surprise but quickly shut up at the sight of Clarisse's scowl. All except Percy, who laughed loudly, almost manically , his eyes watering. He gave Rachel a thumbs up in-between choking out chuckles.

Clarisse didn't even bother trying to silence him and shot Rachel another glare instead. Although she didn't look too miffed by the offer. Obviously, Rachel wasn't on her good side.

Chiron nodded a little stiffly at the events, leaned over and whispered something to Annabeth. She bobbed her head in response and he galloped away.

"Camp councillors to the Big House for an emergency meeting!" She projects her voice over the crowd. "Before we go, does anybody have anything of utmost importance to say?"

Silence.

Then Connor walked forward and stopped in front of Rachel. Annabeth eyed him with a look of anxious anticipation. He cleared his throat and took Rachel's hand. "I believe that they are not our enemies. She _saved_ my life!" He shouted to the crowd over his shoulder. His twin face-palmed and groaned.

Tobias turned his head to glare at the boy. His dark eyes looked especially fierce. His feathers stood on end, puffed out around his head, and his neck was rigid. {Don't you dare.} He said menacingly, but only in private thought-speech.

"Since you just saved my life, I believe it is the perfect opportunity for me to proclaim my undying love to you." His eyes were completely serious and shown with sincerity.

"Umh… uh," Rachel was totally caught off guard. She looked completely flabbergasted. I didn't want to, but I felt a slight surge of satisfaction at the fact that, for once, my best friend wasn't totally prepared. Boys fell over their own feet trying to catch her attention, which she usually treated with snappy remarks or complete disdain (case Marco). "Sorry, Connor, but I actually have a boyfriend." Nope, gone is the satisfaction. Rachel looked genuinely sorry. What did this camp do to her in only one day? Maybe Marco's genetically modified strawberry theory wasn't that far off.

Connor's face fell. "Who is he?" He demanded forlornly.

Rachel blushed. She nodded in Tobias's direction. "Tobias and I are dating."

A look of horror contorted his face and his eyes widened comically. "The bird?!"


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: This chapter is for SeanHicks4; thanks for the reviews!**

**Elements1999 you are the best! Thanks for reviewing.**

**Thank you also to menatron, KoolKat SuperStar DareDevil, superpony55 and Jouaint.**

**And without further ado: Dun Dun Dun!**

* * *

Visser One stopped in front of the two-way mirror looking into a holding cell. She placed her feet shoulder width apart and her hands behind her back. She surveyed the scene in front of her with a cool gaze. A boy with golden hair lied on the white floor. He was dressed in a white suit and his wrists, legs and waist were held onto the floor with metal braces. Every part of his body that could be seen was covered with burn scars.

When they had found Patient X two months ago, his skin had been burnt to a crisp and he was thought to be as good as dead. The body had simply washed onto the shore during a Sharing-meeting on a beach. They were taking him to a hospital with a story already in their arsenal. A story of how the brave members of the Sharing tried to resuscitate the poor, innocent boy. They were going to use it for publicity but whilst they were loading the body into the back of a truck, the boy's skin started to heal before their eyes. Not dramatically. Not entirely, but noticeably. The boy was scarred for life, but because of some or other reason he was alive and had the ability to heal unbelievably quickly from fatal wounds.

They waited for two weeks until the boy was fully healed. It took them another week to determine that the trauma to his body might have healed but not that to his mind. For the past month though, they have interrogated him as only a Yeerk could.

A red light started flashing and a siren blared. The boy started thrashing and straining against his restraints. Doctors, nurses and various other medical personal rushed inside and the room was a chaotic jumble of hands. The head doctor gestured to the Visser. A thumb dragged across his throat. Dead. Another one dead.

"Bring in the next interrogator!" The Visser called and a small bowl with a grey slug in, is carried into the room. It was the second Yeerk that day. The 43rd Yeerk that week. Either they died or their minds were damaged beyond repair. Visser One wanted to scream in frustration. She had this unexplainable feeling that they have hit a goldmine with this strange young man, but the information they have gleaned so far were barely anything to go by.

Every now and then, they would get a word, maybe a jumbled sentence if they were lucky. Mentions of strange words and things appeared frequently and they were inclined to dispose of the boy since his brain was clearly damaged, when one of the Yeerk's hosts remembered a myth of a Minotaur. Most believed that it was the final proof of the boy's insanity, but Visser One's was even more intrigued.

Yeerks with hosts specialising in Greek Mythology were called in to try to decipher the boy's mumblings. They deemed it possible that the Greek Myths weren't exactly myths, and that this boy could prove the existence of a race of godly beings. DNA tests revealed that half of the boy's genetic material was simply missing or invisible to even the strongest microscopes the aliens possess. Then there was the obvious issue of the boy's immensely strong defence against mental probing.

It was a frustratingly slow process with many casualties, but Visser One was determined to find out what he's hiding. If they were what she suspected, it might reveal a powerful adversary as well as equally powerful hosts.

A last nurse injected another syringe, full of a sedative created specifically for the situation, into the boy's thin arm. She quickly walked out after checking that the bolts were still firmly fastened into the ground. They learnt the hard way of the boy's extreme strength. Then the process started again. Microphones all over the room monitored every whisper, every grunt.

Visser One clenched her fists tightly behind her back. She would discover this boy's secrets even if she had to climb into his head and do it herself.

* * *

Black… Black… _Black_…

Darkness…

Where was I? Why couldn't I see?

I wish I could see just a sliver of sunshine. Maybe if I could open my eyes… but it felt as if my eyelids were sown together.

Shadow…_ Black_…

The last thing I remember is falling, crashing, and… dying? Was that it? Was I dead and in Tartarus? Couldn't Dad get me into the Elysian Fields? I was a hero, wasn't I? I defended camp. I protected my siblings. I helped Percy. Or maybe Kronos had won and they're all dead.

No! Percy would have saved them. Percy _must_ have saved them. He would have made the right choice and kept everyone safe and alive. Percy was the greatest hero of our generation, maybe even the greatest hero ever. He wouldn't have failed. He _couldn't_ have failed.

{Who's Percy?} The thought surfaced abruptly from the back of my mind.

_What?_ I wanted to frown, but I couldn't move a muscle. There was something bound around my body and my muscles were locked. _Percy is the Hero of Olympus, of course.__The son of Poseidon, _I thought to the strange voice.

{Where's Olympus? Is that your headquarters?} The voice asked curiously.

_Headquarters?No, Olympus is where the gods are. Our headquarters are back at Camp._

The creepy voice was silent for a few seconds. {Camp Half-Blood, right? Where is Camp Half-Blood?}

_Yes, that's where we live. That's the only place safe for us_. I thought about the taste of strawberries and the feeling of the sun baking on my face. The sound of the sea; waves breaking onto the beach. The sound of the conch horn and laughter. The smell of barbeque and the smoke from a huge bonfire. Oh, what I wouldn't give to see the sun instead of this never-ending gloom.

"Percy. Son of Poseidon. Olympus, gods. Camp safe place. Children." My mouth moved without consent, my voice sounding hoarse from either disuse or overuse. I tried to pry my eyes open, but I couldn't. My heart started beating faster. Why couldn't I move?

{Where can we find more of you?}

The image of a pair of green eyes flashed through my mind. Bright, beautiful green eyes framed by long lashes and sparkling with magic. _Lou Ellen. _A pang of longing shot through my heart. _If I could only open my eyes and get to New York, she'd help me._

My mouth was dry as my tongue moved yet again. "Lou Ellen. New York."

_No. Stop. I shouldn't say it out loud._ This was wrong.

{Where in New York?} The voice demanded in an excited hiss.

Pain lashed through my mind. Something wasn't right. A little bit of the fog lifted from my thoughts. Something was definitely wrong.

"The drugs are wearing off." My voice, my mouth, said, but again I wasn't the one moving my lips, using my tongue.

_Get out of my head!_ I screamed inside. I strained my mind; commanded my body to move. My eyes snapped open. The ceiling was white. The walls were white.

{No! I am in control! You may have killed the weaker of my brothers and sisters, but you won't overpower me!} The voice yelled and it felt as if somebody was stirring my brain with a white-hot fire poker. {Submit!} The voice screamed and I wanted to die.

But I _won't_. I have stood up to flaming bulls and massive Cyclops. I have the ichor of ancient immortals flowing through my veins. I am a part of legends and myths. I was born to be a survivor. I _won't_ bow to whatever creature was trying to control me.

"Ah!" I screamed aloud – _me_. I struggled against the metal restraints that were bolted to the floor. Where in Hades was I?

"Sedate him!" I heard somebody order and a nurse with dead eyes ran in. She plunged a needle into my arm and a white liquid burned through my veins.

Bright colours danced in front of my eyes and shadows grew from the edges of my vision. "Third one today. He's building immunity towards the drugs." A disembodied voice announced emotionlessly.

"Next!" A different voice demanded, before I felt something cold and slimy touch my ear.

_No! Nonononono!_

_Somebody…_

_Anybody…_

_Help…_

_...please…_

* * *

A predatory grin twisted Visser One's face into a terrifying expression. Finally, success, and it tasted sweet. "Find the girl. Bring her in and every child under the age of 18 she has frequent contact with," she commanded to one of the Hork-Bajir who stood guard at the door.

From everything she have read in the past few weeks, these so-called _demigods _could make her one of the most powerful rulers in the galaxy. The potential of these new hosts made her salivate.


End file.
